


Who's Afraid of the Sophomore Slump?

by needleyecandy



Series: Fated [3]
Category: Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Sex, Bigotry & Prejudice, Coming Out, Fluff, M/M, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rimming, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 05:02:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 53,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2719652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/needleyecandy/pseuds/needleyecandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki and Thor's second year of college. They're still as happy together as ever, but that doesn't mean life isn't going to throw them some loops. Of course, they have a few loops to throw back.</p><p>Sequel to <em> ...and all because of a joke in Student Housing</em> and <em>Absence Makes All *Sorts* of Things Grow Fonder.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Back

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the third installment of the series!

Thor's alarm went off far too early, considering how tired he felt. He opened his eyes to find himself in a different bedroom, and as his mother sat up in the bed across the room the cobwebs began to clear and he remembered. No wonder he was so tired, they'd been up until almost two, unpacking the car and digging out enough sheets to make up the beds before they could collapse.

At least the dorm was still nearly empty, so Thor didn’t have to wait for a shower while Frigga used the one in the room. She took him out for a quick goodbye breakfast before she hit the road, and Thor got to the gym at eight a.m. on the dot.

Training proved much easier this year; coach had some new plays for them to learn, but while the first years had to learn _everything_ , much of this was simple refresher for the older players. Thor liked being one of the older players.

With just the athletes back on campus, the dining halls hadn't opened, and at lunch they all piled into the student union to grab sandwiches at the deli. A freshman, well aware of Thor's reputation - in football, anyway - tried to start a conversation with him by complaining about the loose outfits the cheerleaders were wearing for practice.

"What's the point of it without those tiny skirts?" he smirked.

Thor grinned. This was going to be fun. "Hey, Julie!" he yelled, waving her over. She smiled and waved back as she walked over to their table. She was, without a doubt, one of the hottest women at the entire school. She was also using her cheerleading scholarship to pay for her pre-med studies, and not about to take _anybody's_ shit.

"Hi sweetie, how was your summer?" she asked, giving him a big hug.

"It was really good. How was yours?"

"Not bad," she said. "Hi, I'm Julie, and you are...?" she said, turning and offering her hand to shake.

"Damien," he said, his voice overly smooth. He took her hand and turned it, beginning to raise it to his lips. She rolled her eyes at Thor, but let him draw her hand close until suddenly it was making a knot in the collar of his shirt.

"Look, _kid._ Maybe this fake-suave dudebro shit worked for you in high school, but if you seriously want _any_ woman here to even think about looking at you twice, you'd better get over it like _that,_ " she said, snapping her fingers. "Now I am a nice person, so I'm not going to go over there and tell the rest of the squad what a pathetic little turdsquash you are, on the condition that you make the utmost effort to quit looking at us like trophies and start seeing us as people. People with skills that you don't have, I might add." She let go of his shirt and turned to Thor. "Have a good lunch, babe," she told him. She leaned over and kissed him _very_ loudly on the cheek before returning to her table.

Damien stared after her with a mix of terror and adoration. "Wow," he said. "Is that your girlfriend?"

Thor chuckled. "No, we're just friends. She's awesome."

"Do you know if she's up for grabs, then?"

Thor sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Julie?"

They only had half-day practice on the weekends, so the team spent those afternoons helping each other carry their stuff out of storage. At the end of spring term, in the middle of finals, storing his things in the basement of Smith had seemed like a great idea. Now, in the late August heat, carrying everything across campus didn't seem so bright after all. And worse - the custodian took pity on them and unlocked the freight elevator for them to take up the sofa, only to find it was just a few inches too tall, so they had to haul it up three flights of stairs. Thor briefly thought about doing Loki's boxes, too, but decided against it. The thought of following Loki up the stairs, over and over, watching his perfect ass shifting in his jeans was just too much to pass up. The heat had nothing to do with it. Nothing whatsoever. None.

Loki knew he had a good ass. There was a chance he'd believe it. 

*****

The owner of that ass was at home, eating one of his father's culinary experiments. It was not one of Odin's best attempts at cooking, and Loki was pretty sure carrots were never meant to be from a can.

"Nal said this recipe was really good," Odin said plaintively. "I just tried to jazz it up a little."

"With canned carrots?"

Odin shrugged. "They sell canned potatoes, too."

'Yes, and we don't eat those, either."

"Oh, well. Eat up, it'll be gone soon," said Odin. "What you are doing with your last week?"

"As little as possible," Loki said. "I tried doing nothing at all, but I needed coffee."

Odin ruffled his hair and laughed at the face it earned him.

*****

The new students arrived a week before the returning students did, and the RA's came back then as well. Thor thought it was a little weird, not having Steve there anymore, but Clara seemed cool enough. And it was fun, watching the new students cluster together and stare at him whispering, turning away with sudden blushes when he smiled at them. There was no way he had looked that young only a year ago.

The first one to say more to him that just a 'hello' at the bathroom door was one of the guys from the room next to his. He seemed to have been forcibly elected by his roommates to stop by under the guise of borrowing laundry detergent. Once he survived the experience and reported back to the other first-years, though, they seemed to all cluster around his room at once, finding any excuse to talk to him.

Between practice all day and long, filthy phone calls with Loki at night, the week passed quickly enough. He went to bed early on Saturday, eager for the time to pass. Loki was aiming to arrive on campus by about two Sunday, when Thor would be finished with practice for the day. They'd have time to get a late lunch together before hauling Loki's boxes across campus out of storage.

They both knew they wouldn't be going to dinner.

*****

Loki woke up to find a text from Thor waiting for him.

_I'm going to practice now, can't wait to see you_

He smiled and was halfway through an answer when he changed his mind and deleted it. The next thing Thor got from him, he decided, should be a kiss.

 

That was a great idea. Or rather it would have been a great idea if it weren't for the unbelievable traffic on the freeway. The day had started out well enough. Odin had been up early to make waffles ( _thank God_ , Loki thought), and helped him carry his luggage out to his car and offer - again - to follow in his own car to help unload. Loki had told him to enjoy the day rather than spending it behind the wheel.

Even knowing that Thor was waiting for him, it had still been a little sad to leave home, and he had flipped through several albums before finding just the right driving music. _Heaven or Las Vegas,_  he decided. The airy strains had blended with the sound of his tires crunching onto the street. And that was about the last thing that had gone right.

He was perhaps an hour into the drive when the cars ahead of him just _stopped._ He slammed on his brakes, hoping desperately that the ones on the car behind him were as good as his own. They were. That was something, he supposed. Small favors and all that.

He sighed and paused the music to turn on the radio. The third station he found had a traffic report - a semi had overturned, completely blocking westbound traffic. Somehow, the driver had escaped with only minor injuries and no one else was hurt. It made Loki feel a little better about how irritated he was at the delay. If he were this annoyed, only to find out people were dying, he'd have felt like a complete asshole. As long as everyone was pretty much okay, he could swear freely. Which he proceeded to do, as the reporter gave the estimates for how long it would take to get the road cleared.

He turned off the car and pulled out his phone. He wasn't entirely sure if it was legal to use his phone while he was on the road, but he decided that the road could now safely be considered a parking lot. "Hi, baby," he said into Thor's voicemail. "There's an accident up ahead, and they think it's going to be at least a couple hours before we can get moving. I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you."

The cars hadn't moved by the time Thor called him back. "Crap. I assume you being able to answer isn't a good sign?" he said instead of hello.

"Nope. We're still just sitting here. I'm really glad I ordered my books early. I'm way ahead in some of my classes now."

"Do you have enough water?" Thor asked, sounding as though he would personally bring some if the answer were no.

"Yeah, I have a ton. And I'm having cheetos for lunch," Loki reassured him.

"Well, if you're sure you're ok... I think I'm going to go shower, I'm disgusting."

"Always," Loki teased.

"Just for you. You're special," Thor answered. "Okay, I'm gonna go. Love you."

"Love you too."

*****

Even though he said he had plenty of water, Thor still worried about Loki sitting in the sun for hours, his air conditioning shut off. There was a nice breeze today, but still. He ate lunch with the team but declined the invitation to spend the afternoon taking over the student union arcade. "Loki's in a traffic jam, I'm going to get his stuff out of storage," he said.

"I'll help you," Hogun offered.

"Thanks, man," Thor said happily. Hogun just smiled in answer. He was the undisputed foosball master, and Thor knew he’d been quietly relishing the thought of his first chance to demolish the new players when they hit the arcade. He’d have to watch for a chance to pay him back properly.

They had just finished, and Thor was halfway through getting undressed to take his third shower of the day when his phone rang. He snatched it up from his desk. “You’re here?” he breathed.

“No, I’m at a gas station,” Loki said. “They managed to get one lane open to start letting us through, but it was really slow and I used up too much to make it back to school.”

“But once you fill up, you’re on your way?”

“Once I fill up and get some coffee.”

Thor made a face. Loki’s ability to drink coffee in even the muggiest weather was something he would never understand. And then a much worse thought struck him. “People are going to be in bad moods driving out there, so stay safe, okay?”

Loki could hear the worry in Thor’s voice, and he knew Thor was thinking of the night his father never came home, killed by a drunk. “I’ll be extra careful. I promise.”

When Loki hadn’t arrived by seven, Thor called for pizza. Loki would be hungry when he arrived, and the dining halls were closing. The guy on the phone said it would be twenty minutes. At seven twenty-five, there was a knock on the door. Thor got up, opening the door and his wallet at the same time. When he looked up to hold out a bill, though, it wasn’t the delivery driver standing there, but Loki. Reaching for the cash.

“I didn’t know I’d be getting a tip just for showing up,” he said.

Thor laughed and punched him in the shoulder. “Hey, man,” he said happily. “Welcome to our humble home.” He stood back and threw open the door.

Loki followed him in and closed it behind him. It had barely clicked shut before Thor had him pressed against the wall, his mouth pressed to Loki’s and his hands _everywhere_ , as though he were reassuring himself that Loki really was here, unharmed by the long and horrible day.

“Mmmm, hi,” he mumbled through the kiss. “Thor, I do still have to unload my car and move it. I’m in a fifteen minute spot.”

Thor broke away. “Nope. You take this-“ he said, pressing the money into Loki’s hand – “and get comfy and wait for the pizza. You’ve had enough of a day. I’ll unload your car and move it for you.”

“All I did was sit on my ass all day. I can do it,” Loki protested.

“That can be more tiring than doing things, sometimes. Just let me.”

“Okay,” Loki said. Now that he had finally made it, he _did_ feel tired, and their sofa looked awfully tempting.

When Thor got back with the first load of luggage, Loki was sitting with his feet up.

When Thor got back with the second load, Loki was eating pizza. Thor scarfed two slices before going back downstairs to move the car.

When Thor returned with the last load, Loki was stretched out on the sofa, asleep. The sight made him suddenly feel how _much_ he had done that day. He was glad, now, that he’d been too lazy to take the sheets off the second bed after Frigga had slept there. Loki woke briefly when Thor scooped him up and carried him to his bed, snuggling happily into it as soon as he was set down. He barely even reacted to the noise when Thor dragged the other bed next to it. Thor undressed quickly and stretched out, twining his fingers between Loki’s. He spent a few minutes watching Loki smile in his sleep before surrendering to dreams.

 


	2. Late August Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Classes start on Wednesday. That's two days to catch up with friends, get rooms organized, and have some quality personal time... but it's over a hundred degrees out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

When Loki woke up, their beds were next to each other, and Thor's hand was in his.  

"Morning," Thor said softly. 

"Mmm. Morning," Loki mumbled. "Don't you have practice?" 

"Yeah. I've got -" Thor twisted around to check his phone "- three minutes before the alarm goes off." 

Loki rubbed at his eyes with his free hand and sat up. "I like our beds together like this, but do you mind if I move them out of the middle of the room?" he asked. It would be nearly impossible to do anything else with them where they were. Including opening the door to their bathroom, the main reason they'd wanted this room in the first place. 

"Oh. I thought we'd bunk them again?" Thor said. He watched as Loki's face fell. "I'm sorry," he added. "I don't feel ready to tell my mom yet, and if word gets out about us, I just know it'll get into the student paper." 

Loki nodded. "We'll bunk them later, then. But, Thor... I can't do this forever." 

Thor squeezed his hand. "I know, baby. And I won't ask you to. Bear with me, a little while longer?" 

"Make it worth my while?" 

"In three minutes?" 

"Hmm. Do you have whole-day practice?" 

"Nope, done at noon." 

"How about I meet you at the dining hall for lunch, and then you spend the afternoon showing me how worth my while this all is."  
   
"I can do that," Thor grinned. He twisted around as his alarm went off and silenced it before turning back to Loki and leaning close to his ear. "I'm going to lick every inch of you," he whispered. 

*****  

"Hey guys! Can I sit here?"   

Thor and Loki were halfway through lunch when they heard the voice behind them.  

 "Steve! Of course, sit down!" Thor said, shoving a chair out with his foot.  

"Thanks. It's good to see you both, how was your summer?" Steve asked, taking a huge bite of his grilled cheese.  

"Pretty good," Loki nodded. "I got a promotion at work, and Thor got to do his whole salt-of-the-earth nature god thing."  

"I drove the plow for three months," Thor clarified. Steve grinned.   

"Hey, we're having a room-warming party on Friday, it's Thor's last weekend here before a bunch of away games. You should come," Loki said.  
    
"There might be, um, underage drinking, though," Thor said,  more cautiously.  

"Oh, that? That's fine," Steve shrugged.  

"Really? You seemed so serious about it last year."  

"Well, yeah, I was, but that was because I'd made a commitment to enforce the school rules. I kind of hated it, but it was part of the deal."  

"Why'd you  take the job, then?" Loki asked curiously.  

"I had a great RA my first year, he was always doing floor events and really keeping on top of the new students, making sure we were all settling in okay. He made us feel like a team, like we had each other's backs. It made the whole starting college thing so much easier, and I just wanted to do the same thing. Even if it meant enforcing things I didn't care about."  

Loki smiled. "That's really great of you. That means you'll come?"  

"I'd love to."  

"Awesome. We're in Mews 422."  

***** 

There was a small flaw in Thor's plan to lick every inch of Loki. A teensy, teensy flaw. Which was that it was over a hundred degrees outside and it was a fifteen minute walk between the dining hall and Mews, with almost no shade. Loki was by far the most gorgeous thing Thor had ever seen, but he wasn't  _really_  at his utmost lickable. Fortunately, the heat had put other things on his mind, as well. 

"I'm going to die of heat exhaustion," he groaned, flopping into his desk chair. "I don't see how you can run around in this weather for hours." 

Thor laughed. "It's why I have to be there so early, so we can run around before it gets hot. The worst part of the day we spend in the gym." 

Loki made a grumbling sound. "Still. It's horrible, and I need a shower... come with me?" 

"Definitely." 

The shower was reasonable enough for one of them, but for two it was on the cramped side. Certainly nowhere near as luxurious as the showers they'd taken together at Loki's house, or at the hotel in Greenrock. But it was _theirs_ , and the tepid water felt like bliss as it rained down on hot skin and they stood under it feeling their bodies slowly cool as they kissed.  

Thor fumbled blindly for the bar of soap and lathered his washcloth. He cleaned himself quickly before turning his attention back to Loki. Him he washed considerably more slowly, drawing tiny swirling circles over every inch of pale skin, pressing deeper into the tight muscles in his neck and shoulders. By the time he reached Loki's waist, Loki's cock was swollen to half hardness and the rest of him as relaxed as a cloud. Thor knelt, working more quickly down his legs - avoiding his cock, which could have been incredibly annoying were it not for the look on his face, making it _quite_ clear that he'd be back, or for the fact that Loki's arousal was only languidly pleasant, rather than urgent - and down to his feet, before turning him around by his hips and working back up.  

When Thor reached to his thighs, Loki shifted his feet further apart and leaned against the tile wall for support. His body sagged helplessly as the soft cloth smoothed over his ass, his body's interest now growing demanding. Thor's hand cupped each firm globe before easing between, running lightly through the cleft. He heard the splash of the cloth being dropped to the floor just as strong fingers spread him open, and the cool water ran down, right over his entrance, a sharp contrast from Thor's hot breath. And then, hotter, Thor's lips, closing down and around, his tongue probing gently.  

Loki's low moan echoed in the small room. When Thor matched it with his own, the sound vibrating straight into Loki's core, he felt his legs go suddenly weak. "Thor," he panted. "I can't-" 

"You can," Thor said, his voice low and rumbling and still _right there,_  but just before Loki's legs gave out completely, Thor's hand clamped down on his lower back, holding him firmly against the wall so he couldn't fall. And then his other hand snaked around Loki's hip and Thor's hand clamped down on his lower back, holding him firmly against the wall so he couldn't fall.  

Thor's face was buried and it was more than a little difficult to breathe, but from the shudders that were wracking Loki's body, he suspected he didn't have long to go. He was right. Loki came suddenly, his hips trying desperately to thrust back onto the demanding tongue and forward into the coaxing hand, and his breath was harsh in the humid air as he spilled thick streaks of white across the gray wall.  

"Fuck, Thor," he mumbled. "Now I really can't... I have to sit down."  

Thor let go, expecting Loki to get out and sit on the side of the tub, perhaps, or on the lid of the toilet. He did not expect Loki to fit around him _in_ the tub. He had to curl on his side to fit next to Thor's knees. It didn't look very comfortable, but when Thor glanced at his face, he looked beyond blissful, like he was far too gone to care. Thor waited until his breathing had evened out and his eyes were on Thor's face before he leaned forward. Well aware of the weight of Loki's gaze, he stuck his tongue out and licked a stripe up the cum-coated wall.  

It was _supposed_ to look hot. Hell, it was supposed to _be_ hot, mind-numbingly so, and it would have been, if only the wall didn’t have so much soap splatter. But it did. So instead of putting on a good show for Loki’s (yes, and his own) pleasure, he found himself twisting into the stream, mouth gaping open trying desperately to get the soap off his tongue.  
  
When he finally turned back, he found Loki bent double with silent laughter.  
  
“I’m very sorry, Loki,” he said, mock-solemnly. “I’m terribly afraid I’m going to have to ask you to join me in bed and do this again.”


	3. Cleaning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They try to get ready for the party. Their plans get somewhat waylaid. It's all Thor's fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this! I had a brainburst and wrote a long chapter (this originally had their party, as well) - which suffered Death By Cat, and I couldn't get it to recover, and rewriting is like pulling teeth for me. So anyway, I figured I may as well post this and then rewrite the party, rather than making you wait forever. On the plus side, chapter 5 is pretty much done.
> 
> Enjoy!

They stood together by the door, helplessly surveying their room. How had they managed to get it so messy in a single week? All right, Thor bore more of the blame, he’d been there for three. But still.

“People are supposed to get here in four hours,” Loki said hollowly.

“I know,” Thor answered.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’m willing to start cleaning, if you do the shopping,” Loki offered.

Thor cocked an eyebrow. “That’s really nice of you,” he said.

“I know. Here’s my card,” Loki said, digging into his pocket, “you shouldn’t have to pay for everything.”

It wasn’t everything, of course; they’d already gotten an upperclassman to run to the state store for liquor, but it was close enough.

“You’re the best,” Thor said, pulling Loki towards him and planting a _very_ wet and messy kiss on his cheek before grabbing the card from Loki’s hand and sliding his hand into his pocket for the car key.

“I know,” Loki agreed. He gave the bathroom a quick cleaning, making sure the shower walls were nice and clear (of both soap and – ahem - other things) before shoving everything from the counter into a drawer. The sink wasn’t too bad, and he had that and the mirror quickly cleaned. Their main room was considerably more questionable. He did actually spent ten whole minutes cleaning properly - picking things up one at a time, deciding, putting them away - before he came up with a better idea. Loki had no real qualms about throwing absolutely everything into boxes and cramming them in their closets. It was really all Thor's fault, anyway. He knew how Loki felt about those jeans he had on. They were well-designed and clingy and cut kind of low and when he moved you could see his muscles rippling beneath the buttery denim and the better Thor looked in his clothes the faster Loki already wanted to get him out of them. Just the thought made his own jeans grow rather uncomfortably tight.

Fortunately, the closet method of cleaning meant he had time to undress and slick his cock before Thor got back.

It wasn’t _really_ cleaning, but Thor didn’t know the difference when he got back. “Oh. Hi,” he said as he stood in the doorway, hands loaded with bags of groceries and eyes devouring the sight before him.

“Hi,” Loki said. Nonchalant. _Oh yes, I always sit about naked and covered in lube._

“Is that for me?” Thor asked, setting the bags on the floor and closing the door behind him.

“Mm-hmm,” Loki answered.

“Well, it would be a shame to waste it.”

Loki nodded again. His eyes darkened as he watched Thor undress and approach him.

“Should I, or do you want to?” Thor asked.

“You,” Loki said simply. He brought his hand to his cock, lazily stroking it, as he watched Thor undress. Thor discarding his clothes was a glorious sight, even when he wasn't really thinking about making a show of it.

He thought about what he did next, though. He picked up the bottle of lube and settled to his knees between Loki's own, grinning wickedly as the cap popped loudly. He squeezed a large blob onto his fingers and reached behind himself with the slicked hand, bringing the other up to curl behind Loki's neck and pull him forward. Their mouths met lightly, tongues dancing together as their breathing ghosted across each other's hungry lips. That was how Loki knew when Thor first breached himself; his sharp intake of air was cool and ticklish across Loki’s tongue. And they continued on that way, Thor's breath catching when he slid in _just so_ , another gasp each time he added more stretch. And always, always, their mouths moving together, tongues playing and exploring, until Thor was panting the air straight out of Loki's lungs with soft pleading cries.

As Thor was about to break away, Loki pulled him close for one deep, lingering kiss. "That was beautiful," he murmured. Thor said nothing, but his eyes were warm and soft as he rose and settled down straddling Loki, his knees sinking deep into the plush cushions. He reached behind himself and held Loki's glistening cock with one hand while he braced himself against the back of the sofa with the other, and sank slowly.

Loki planted his feet on the floor and lifted upwards, burying himself fully. Thor groaned in response and settled forwards, resting his forehead against Loki's as he slid reluctantly back up. He felt Loki's legs relax beneath his own, before tensing again to offer another gentle slide up and in. Their faces were so close that their eyes were filled with the eyes of the other, their eyelashes catching occasionally as they blinked. They had to move slowly, to avoid hitting their heads, so that their lovemaking was languid, almost hypnotic.

"I missed this," Thor whispered.

"So did I," Loki answered softly.

The air gradually came alive with soft gasps and pleading murmurs until Loki brought his hand to Thor's cock, making him give a choked cry. He dropped his head down to Loki's shoulder, still holding onto the back of the sofa, and began to ride harder. It let Loki see the tension in his shoulders telling plainly of how desperately he _needed,_ and of how hard it had been to hold himself back.

Loki worked his cock harder as they moved faster, wrapping the other hand around Thor to pull at his ass, holding him open to thrust deeper in. His sob was hot against Loki's skin as he let go of his support to reach behind himself, mirroring the slender fingers with his own broad ones.

Loki forced back the rising pleasure that was threatening to overwhelm him as he murmured into Thor's ear. "You're so gorgeous like this, Thor," he told him. "So close, so tight... come for me, I want to watch you, you're perfect..."

The rich voice in his ear, urging him on, was intoxicating. He repositioned himself so that Loki’s cock dragged across the little spot that always set every nerve alive, every inch of skin humming as he grew close, until he was making little gasping sobs with every thrust. His movements began to stutter helplessly, but Loki held on, keeping the same smooth rapid pace no matter how erratically Thor jerked and twisted above him. His orgasm came suddenly, crashing over him until the world shattered into blinding white and the roar of blood in his ears, and through all that a pair of green green eyes and a low rich voice.

Loki gritted his teeth, holding himself back as Thor’s passage spasmed about him and his stomach was spattered with liquid heat. It still felt unreal, almost, too good to be true, and it would be so easy to let go. He forced himself to focus instead on watching Thor’s face, seeing the waves of pleasure that crossed it, his smile beatific and his eyes lidded.

When Thor finished, he looked down at Loki, his eyes still lazy but with a trace of concern peering out. “What about you?” he asked.

Loki managed to smile. “I thought you might not want to be dripping all night,” he said.

“Oh. Yeah,” Thor breathed. It took a couple of tries before his muscles would obey him enough to get up and move to the side. He ran his hand across Loki’s stomach, narrowly resisting the urge to nibble at the little rolls of skin that always appeared when he slouched, despite his leanness, and scooped up his cum to slick his hand before bringing it down to Loki’s cock, which jutted upwards urgent and burning.

Loki let his head fall back as Thor began to work him, coaxing him to his own finish. It didn’t take long, after how close Thor had already gotten him; only three strokes before he was gasping and spilling. Thor continued on, making his climax drag onward. He wasn't sure Loki was ever as beautiful as in these moments, with his mouth open in a panting, silent cry, his eyes half-closed and the corners a little strained with intensity, his finely muscled chest heaving for breath and such lovely pearly cum shooting out. Thor would have made it last forever if he could, but Loki finally collapsed back with a satisfied sigh. He rolled his head towards Thor and gave him a smile as rich with lazy satisfaction as Thor’s own.

"How'd you clean the room so fast?" Thor asked, looking around with sudden realization.

"Um. Don't open the closets," Loki said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was brought to you in part by Tom's adorable little tummy rolls in Hollow Crown, and by Chris' ass in the new GQ photoshoot.


	4. Roomwarming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which friends catch up, and some propositioning occurs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

It was lucky, Thor thought as they unpacked the grocery bags, that he'd stopped in the hall kitchen to put the ice in the freezer before bringing the rest of the stuff back to their room. As it was, a few things had warmed up a bit more than was ideal - tepid coke wasn't exactly the party drink of the year. At least Loki was the one stuck tetrising everything into their fridge while Thor went back to the kitchen, ingredients in tow. He'd picked up some things from his mom, and was ready to show off.

The first few guests arrived right on time, just as the oven dinged the cake's readiness. Thor got back to the room just as Loki was introducing Steve and Sara, a friend he'd met through Natasha.

"That looks amazing. Hi, I'm Sara. You must be Thor," she said.

"Hi. Yeah, I am," he said. "And thanks, it's my first time making this so I hope it's good."

"Are those apricots?"

"Yeah. I got the very last ones at the store."

More people trickled in over the next half hour, and the level of the punch bowl dropped rapidly. It was fun to see Steve so relaxed, now that he didn't feel like he had to be responsible for everything that was going on around him. Loki seemed relaxed, too, despite the number of people crowded into their small room. Thor rather suspected it might be because he was standing in the corner with Sara and Natasha, and listening more than talking. He wandered over to join them.

The two women had met in Krav Maga class the year before, and were excitedly discussing the rumor that the school was going to add Wushu classes for spring term.

"You should join us, Loki," Nat said. "You don't want to put off your PE requirements too long. It'll be fun, and I bet you'd be really good. Don't you think so, Thor?" she asked, turning to him.

Thor agreed that Loki would likely be good at martial arts. He also hated the thought of Loki getting hit and kicked. He could hardly keep Loki in a bubble, though, especially not while he was risking all sorts of things on the football field, so he nodded.

Loki looked dubious, but his interest perked noticeably when Sara said, "I think you'd like it. You don't have to talk to people much if you don't want to. You hit them instead."

"That does sound-" he began, before being interrupted by a crash from the other side of the room. He and Thor smiled their excuses and squeezed through the tightly packed guests, leaving Nat and Sara to discuss how long they thought it would take to progress to swords.

The crash turned out to be a lamp that they'd found on a curb earlier in the week. It was hideous, but one corner of their room was painfully underlit, so they'd taken the lamp as a placeholder until they got a chance to go shopping.

"Sorry, dudes," Tony said. "That thing had it coming."

Thor nodded. "It did," he agreed.

"I don't suppose you'd care to deal with the broken glass?" Loki asked Tony.

"I would, but I'm not really the cleaning type," he answered.

"Funny," Loki said.

"I'll get it," said Thor. "I don't mind."

"You'll help him," Loki told Tony.

Tony's jaw dropped in mock outrage. "I'm a guest!"

"You're a guest who's going to help Thor clean up if you want me to make another batch of punch," Loki grinned, glancing at the empty bowl.

"Bring me a paper bag," Tony sighed.

When Loki got back from the kitchen loaded down with the new batch, half the room crowded around. It meant Thor got to nab a seat on the sofa. Loki glanced over to find him holding up a Dorito and nodding. He caught Thor's eye and Thor grinned at him.

Loki sat on the arm and leaned down. "What?" he whispered.

Thor grinned again and whispered back. "Sif told me that Steve has the shoulder-to-waist ratio of a Dorito. I was checking. She's right. Here, look." He handed the chip to Loki, who held it up.

"Holy shit, you're right. That's crazy."

Steve started to turn towards them, and Loki quickly ate the evidence.

"That was my Dorito," Thor said sadly. "My last one."

"You want me to get you more?" Loki asked.

"Very much so."

Sif was standing by the snacks table when Loki wandered over. "See?" she said.

"You're right," he agreed. "It is pretty impressive."

She nodded. "So what are you taking this term?" she asked.

"Three lit classes and intro geo. You?"

"You're not going to do a thing all term but read. I hope Thor knows he's in for the world's most boring roommate."

"Oh, I think he can handle it."

"Better him than me. Anyway. I'm taking a perspectives on human trafficking, the linguistics of misogyny, Latin, and I'm getting credit for teaching fencing."

"And you call me boring? You're going to be the world's most depressing roommate," Loki teased.

"Oh, no. Anna's taking the depressing ones with me."

"Not Anna Lopez?" he asked.

Her face got defensive. "Yeah, why?"

He shook his head. "Nothing bad. We were in a class together last year when she got meningitis and went home. She's ok now?"

"Mostly. She still gets tired easily, so she's taking all her classes with friends for the days she can't get up. We've all promised to take really good notes."

"That's nice of you. If I'd known she was back, I'd have invited her. Please tell her we didn't mean to leave her out."

"I will. I'm actually getting ready to head home, see how she's doing. Is it ok if I take her some snacks?"

"Yeah, of course. Tell her I said hi."

Loki was just finding her a bag when he heard Thor's voice from across the room. "Loki? Doritos?"

  
The party got slowly more raucous and lively until Clara had to come ask them to quiet down. Steve, though he hadn't been making much noise himself, grinned happily through the whole thing. "Man, I love not being the one who has to do that," he said. "It's a lot more fun on this end."

"Mmm. I would imagine," Natasha said. Her tolerance was phenomenal. Loki had personally witnessed her putting away four vodkas and she still seemed completely unfazed. 

By one, enough people had cleared out that they were able to close the door, and not worry quite so much about noise.

By two, there were seats for everyone, as long as they didn't mind cramming together.

By three, the last stragglers were making their way out. Later in the term, once people weren't on their parent's sleep schedules, parties would go later. With Thor needing a good sleep before the game, though, neither of them minded it ending early.

Loki just managed to hold back his yawn until the door closed behind Sara and Nat (who didn't seem tired at all). "Oh man, I'm tired," he said.

Thor looked at him speculatively. "How tired?" he asked. He stepped close and ran his hand down Loki's stomach, coming to rest cupped against Loki's cock, and grinned when he felt it give a stir of interest.

"I might be persuadable," Loki said, giving him a speculative smile.

"Good. Because you were wrong, earlier. When you said I wouldn't want to be dripping all night. That's _exactly_ what I want."


	5. Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor is sentimental.
> 
> Loki might be, too, but don't let on that you noticed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

It wasn't long before the term found its rhythm. Classes, Thor going to work or practice, Loki going on field trips for geology, Thor leaving for the weekend. They didn't get to have lunch together except on those Saturdays where Thor didn't have to leave until later in the afternoon. It had been easy, last year; nearly every day Loki could have lunch with either Thor or Natasha, and he liked it that way. This year required some branching out. He knew it was good for him, but still.

A month into the term, the trees were blazing with color and shedding just enough leaves to make satisfying piles to kick. Loki and Tony walked through as many as they could on their way to the dining hall. Loki went ahead of him through the narrow doorway. Definitely not up to ADA standards, but these old buildings managed to get away with it. He pulled his OnePass from his pocket for the student worker to swipe. Tony bent down behind him, holding a small piece of paper. “Dropped something, Spooks.”

Loki reached out to take it but Tony pulled it away and read it first. “Oooo, who’re you giving that to?” he sang.

Loki snatched it away. It was in Thor’s painfully scrawled handwriting. It wasn’t signed. With that script, Thor never needed to. Loki had thought a couple of his textbooks were out of order on the shelf, but hadn’t paid it any attention at the time. Thor must have been looking at them.

_Doubt thou the stars are fire;_  
 _Doubt that the sun doth move;_  
 _Doubt truth to be a liar;_  
 _But never doubt I love._  
 _(Hamlet)_

“I’m not giving it _to_  anyone,” Loki said with a smirk.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Spill it. Who’s the secret admirer?”

“If you think I’m going to tell you, you may need to review the definition of _secret,_  Tony.”

“You have to tell me. This is killing me. I’ll get you drunk,” he said.

“Is that an offer, or a threat?”

He grinned. “Whichever one will work better.”

*****

Loki was working on his computer when Thor got home. Thor’s stomach was in knots, hoping desperately that Loki didn’t hate the note, didn’t think it was too cheesy or stupid. Loki looked up as he heard the door open. He didn’t say anything about the note, but he smiled happily.

*****

The next one was a few days later. Loki had another class with Natasha; they’d both loved their Russian lit prof last year, and both of them enrolled in her seminar on nineteenth-century Russian novels. They sat together most days, when one arrived in time to save a seat for the other, and today Natasha had gotten there just in time to throw her stuff into a desk for Loki.

“Thanks,” he said as he came up behind her.

“You’re welcome. What did you think of the reading?”

“I loved it,” he said. “I read it in high school, but this translation is way better.”

“Yeah, I’d read some of his other stuff before, but not this. I liked it too.”

As the class started, Loki opened his book to his page marker and found a post-it tucked inside.

_When Love speaks, the voice of all the gods_  
 _Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony._  
 _(Love's Labour's Lost)_

*****

“So what did he do?” Natasha asked as they shoved their books into their backpacks.

“Huh?” Loki had been lost in thought.

She looked at him pointedly. “You were smiling like an idiot while the rest of the class was talking about an old woman getting axe-murdered. So what did Thor do?” She had been the only one to figure it out about Thor, the only voice of comfort last fall. So he told her. “He got into my Shakespeare book,” he said, pulling the note out of his pocket to show her.

“Oh. I’d say that’s worth a few idiotic grins.”

“Yeah.”

*****

It was kind of confusing, when Thor was gone for weekend games. Loki was always sad when he watched Thor leave for the bus, his overstuffed backpack flung over his shoulder. The team always left the afternoon before the game, in case of breakdowns, and stayed overnight. Still, Thor was _such_ a presence. One Loki loved, yes, but sometimes it was tiring. So he was always a little torn between missing Thor and finding rest in having the room to himself. One thing that wasn't confusing was the fact that sleeping in Thor's bed was satisfying. It was kind of like being close to him without the associated exhaustion.

Thor left on Friday, this week. Loki had dinner with Sif and Anna before going back to his room. Book and bubble bath, he decided. He settled into the hot water with some class reading (luckily, he enjoyed it, so it sort of counted as relaxing) and a pen on the side of the tub, and read until the water began to chill. A quick hot shower warmed him up again and got the bubbles off.

Reading in Thor's bed seemed like a good way to pass the rest of the evening, he decided, and folded back the tidy blankets to slide between the sheets. And there he found another note.

_When you depart from me sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave.- Much Ado_

This was the first one that had Thor's commentary added to it. _The other way around applies, too._

Loki smiled and set it carefully aside to read his book.

Before he turned out the light, he put the note under the pillow. When he fell asleep, his hand rested lightly the smooth paper.

When he woke up, it was still there. And that night, Thor would be too. 


	6. Parent's Weekend. Again.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin and Frigga are in town for the weekend. They provide food and drag Loki to a football game. At least Thor is wearing really tight pants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Parent's weekend was late, this year, to accommodate the football schedule. That meant the first weekend they had together since early September would be spent with Odin and Frigga. In a way, it was nice; it reminded them of the same weekend the year before, the first time they'd spent so long together. Loki couldn't help taking advantage of the opportunity to tease Thor mercilessly. Thor had made the mistake of telling him the thoughts that had run through his head when the four of them had dinner together that first time. _You looked so fucking hot, licking your fingers clean, I wanted to pull you onto the table and rip your clothes off,_  he'd growled into Loki's happily receptive ear.

"Let's go to the Middle Eastern place again," Loki said as the four of them walked slowly to the car, discussing where to get dinner.

Thor pinched his ass, thus destroying any hope he had of Loki ordering anything other than kabobs. It was worth it, even if he had to eat his dessert _very_ slowly to kill time before he could stand up in public with any sense of decency. Loki grinned at him cheerfully.

At least they didn't have Odin staying on their sofa this year, even though it was more than a little uncomfortable to see them go off together to their hotel.

The second the door closed behind their parents, Thor had Loki's clothes off and was spreading him out on his bed. "You like licking?" he whispered. "That's what you'll get, then."

He took _hours_ before he let Loki come. Loki wasn't the only one who could tease, when he wanted.

*****

Loki sat next to Odin, rubbing his chilly hands together. His father and Frigga were intent on the game, pointing at players and discussing tactics. Loki had tried to listen at first, but after while he gave up and just watched Thor's butt. At least they'd managed to get good seats. This would have been even duller without the view. Loki's opinion of football jerseys was pretty low - he was glad Thor had all that padding to keep him safe, but it completely ruined Loki's viewing pleasure. He liked the very tight pants, though. Perhaps he'd suggest that Thor start wearing them in the dorm, with nothing else.

The only problem with that idea was that _nothing at all_  always seemed better.

Also, he couldn't stare too much, or it might get obvious. It made the game grow dull quickly.

Two of Lake State's best players were out sick, and the opposing team's strategy seemed to slowly morph into nothing more complex than _block Thor_. Loki could see him growing frustrated, the tension in his hands as he stretched them between plays clearly evident to anyone who knew him.

It meant that Lake State had to overhaul their own plans, as well. They'd grown accustomed to Thor doing a large part of their scoring, but partway through the game, his attempts to run for the end zone didn't seem to have the heart of his normal plays. It was subtle; Odin didn't notice it. Frigga did.

When she pointed it out to Odin, he chuckled. "He's sacrificing his own touchdowns to distract them, so that someone else can score," he explained to his son. "He's a real team player."

Loki rolled his eyes heavenward, making his father laugh harder. "Well, there's a reason it's Thor out there, and not you," he teased.

"I should have brought a book," Loki said dryly.

The last quarter, at least, grew exciting. A tie held for nearly the entirety of it, and even Loki got sucked in. They'd lost two games, last year, and Loki hated to see Thor after them. Much as he tried to be philosophical about losing, and as honestly as he praised the winning team's skills, he put his heart so fully into the game he couldn't help feeling the loss. So when someone - Loki couldn't see who, but they had on the right colors, which was all he cared about - managed to send the ball flying through the goal posts just as the seconds counted out, he cheered right along with the rest of the fans.

There wasn't much point waiting for Thor at the stadium; it was so surrounded by people that it was easier to meet him elsewhere, once he had showered and changed.   
  
"I could do with a hot drink," Frigga said, blowing on her fingers to warm them.

"There's a good coffee shop downtown," Loki suggested.

"That sounds lovely," she said, smiling at him.

Loki sent Thor a quick text, telling him where to find them, and the three of them walked together, kicking cheerfully at the piles of fallen leaves that littered the sidewalk.

The line was long, but most people were getting their drinks to go, so there was no problem getting a place to sit. A low table was framed by sagging loveseats, and Frigga and Odin took one while Loki sprawled on the other. It was more than a little weird to be hanging out, like this, with his dad and his _dad's girlfriend_ , and he was glad that he'd gotten a large drink, so that he could sip nervously at it without running out too quickly.

*****

"I knew we'd win," Thor told him when they were alone that night. "We always win when you're there."

"I've been to two games. I don't think that's statistically significant," Loki answered.

"It is to me," Thor said more seriously. "Thank you for coming."

Loki's eyes widened slightly. "I didn't know it meant that much to you," he said. "I thought you just played for fun."

Thor kissed his knuckles before answering. "I know it's not your thing, and I'd never ask you to come to every game. And I _am_ just playing for fun, but yeah. It does."

Loki ran his fingers through Thor's hair, tidying his messy hat-head. "Then... tell me when it's a big one. I'll come." Thor looked at him a moment before busting out laughing. It took Loki a second longer to realize what he'd said. "I mean it, though," he said, when their laughter had calmed. "I will." 


	7. Playtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki digs out last year's Halloween costumes for some fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone! Here, have some porn.
> 
> This chapter has pretend non-con - it's light and playful enough that I'm not tagging it, but this is your warning if you prefer to avoid that. There is literally no plot here so you won't miss anything if you give the chapter a miss. For everyone else, enjoy!
> 
> Also, I've already been at the NYE champagne so my proofreading is even worse than usual. Sorry.

The package that Loki had been waiting for with baited breath finally arrived. It had only two things in it, two of one thing, no less, but it was something with the potential to add many delightful new things to their lives.

“Here, Thor. Go put this on in the bathroom and don’t come back for half an hour. Take a book or something,” Loki said, shoving Thor’s superhero costume into his hands.

Thor looked at him a minute. “Loki, what are you planning?”

“ _Something,_  Thor. Just do it, will you? It’ll be worth your while.”

Thor grumbled, but he went into the bathroom with his costume and a textbook.  
  
Loki waited to hear the door latch before cutting through the brown paper tape holding the box shut. When they said “ships discreetly,” they weren’t lying. The packaging was the embodiment of discretion. The contents, though, were something else entirely.  
  
Loki took his new toy from the box, holding it up and evaluating its size. Smaller than Thor, but still big: it was perfect. He was just about to get down to business when he realized that Thor was in the bathroom, and he needed to wash it. “Cover your eyes a minute, Thor,” he yelled through the door before letting himself in. Thor, figuring that if he was in for a penny, he may as well be in for a pound, squeezed his eyes shut. Loki washed the toy quickly and dropped a kiss on Thor’s forehead before letting himself back out.

Now it was time to really get down to business. He didn’t mind using his fingers to prepare himself, though he preferred it when Thor took care of it for him. But today he needed something that would put Thor’s mind at ease, that would tell him silently and instantly that Loki was ready. “That’s where you come in, buddy,” he told it.

He used his fingers just enough to get slick and ready for the new toy, before sliding it carefully in. Not as good as Thor, of course, but it was still enjoyable as he opened himself with it, working both the lube and the stretch in deeper. His cock was throbbing and his breathing hurried by the time he looked at the clock, to see that Thor had just five more minutes in the bathroom. The toy had a flange at the base, both for a grip and as a stop, so with one final press Loki pushed it as deep as it would go, and then rose - gingerly - to put on his own outfit.

By the time Thor opened the door, Loki was in his costume and perched on the top bunk, staring down at him with menace. “You’ll never take me alive, superhero,” he mocked.

“I’ll take you however I want to,” Thor answered, getting into the spirit of the game immediately. His eyes twinkled rather brightly for someone who was supposed to be fighting his mortal enemy, but he kept a straight face.

Loki flung himself down onto Thor, fairly sure that Thor didn’t see the slight wince cross his face as the stiff plug shifted a little more than he was ready for. He’d have to figure this out better for next time. Thor caught him easily, but he chose to let the momentum carry them both down to the floor, where they wrestled. Or rather, Loki wiggled ('helplessly') in Thor’s grasp. Thor caught both his wrists in one hand and pinned them over his head, using his free hand to unzip their jeans and shove them to their knees. Loki sneered up at Thor. “You don’t have the guts,” he bit out, just managing to suppress a grin. Thor’s sheer physical power was intoxicating; surely Loki could get drunk on nothing more than the feeling of being overwhelmed by this gorgeous strength.

Thor growled and flipped Loki onto his stomach. And that was when he finally saw the end of the toy, held carefully in place. He had been wondering how, exactly, this was going to end without either stopping the game or hurting Loki. He should have known that Loki would have this all planned out perfectly.  
  
“You mock me for not having the guts, and look at you. All ready for me. Your whole body is just begging for it,” he hissed.

It certainly was. His pulse was racing, his breathing was harsh and broken, and his cock throbbed where it was pressed against the floor. The feel of his own strength being completely overwhelmed by Thor’s was exactly the way he wanted it, _exactly._

“Go on, then, do it,” he spat. “If you really think you can.”

With a growl, Thor grabbed the base and pulled it free with a twist, replacing it with his cock in one hard, fast drive of his hips. Loki gasped and arched his back. Now that Loki was facing away from him, Thor didn’t have to hide his smiles at their playing, so it was with a smile that he responded to Loki’s gasp. “I knew this was what you wanted. Now you’ll take it, and you’ll like it.”

_Definitely,_  Loki agreed silently. He moaned as Thor rode him hard.

“I don’t think this is necessary any more, do you? We both know how this is going to play out,” Thor said, giving Loki’s trapped wrists a squeeze before letting them go. With his hands free, he pulled on Loki’s hips, bringing them both to their knees. Thor felt so deliciously huge as he pounded in, his thrusts harder once Loki was free to move back against him.

“Fuck, Loki, you feel amazing,” Thor muttered. The tight, welcoming heat, paired with Loki’s wanton moans and the enthusiasm with which he always moved with Thor never failed to make him dizzy with lust, wanting more and more even as it’s being satisfied. He sat back on his heels, pulling Loki into his lap. It was harder for Loki to match his thrusts like this, but it set him off to the most delicious writhing, his head thrown back on Thor’s shoulder. Thor reached for Loki’s cock with one hand while the other pressed against his belly, pulling him close.

Loki’s moans turned to helpless panting as Thor worked him, the heady slide of Thor’s cock inside him reflected now by his hand. At this angle Thor _kept_  hitting that sweet spot, over and over, each time he surged forward, and Loki was so close, he couldn’t help it, he wanted to come at the same time as Thor but he couldn’t wait-

When Thor lowered his mouth to Loki’s throat, laid bare before him, his eye caught their motion in the mirror. His lust-dark eyes stared at their reflection, burning the image into his mind. His tanned muscles bulged out, framing the molten figure that shifted constantly in his lap. Loki’s slender body looked so delicate compared to Thor’s, the way that he was lifted helplessly with each thrust into him, and how his back arched helplessly and his neck was so exposed, his black lashes heavy and fluttering.

Both of them were still wearing their capes and helmets and they didn’t look silly now, they looked powerful and deadly and erotic, like primeval gods, and he bit into Loki’s throat as Loki clamped down hard around him and he watched the come spill from Loki and felt his moans through his teeth and then he was coming too, body convulsing around and within Loki, growling with pleasure as he was blinded by searing white.

When it was over Thor collapsed onto his back, pulling Loki with him. Loki sprawled on him a moment before shifting off him to one side and nestling himself in Thor’s arms. “You’ll pay for that, hero,” he said, his voice drowsy with satisfaction.

“We can do this a thousand times, if you want. It will always end the same way,” Thor promised, his mouth soft against Loki’s own.  
  
"Really? Sometimes the heroes lose their battles," Loki said lazily, reaching for his desk drawer and pulling out Thor's matching toy.

Thor cocked an eyebrow. "So they do," he agreed.  
  
  
  



	8. Trips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween in the city and a field trip in the middle of nowhere. 
> 
> Loki may have just given Thor some massive blackmail material.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is barely proofread, but I'm having wifi problems so I'm posting while I'm able - apologies for any painful errors.
> 
> Enjoy!

"You know you owe me, after last year," Loki said.

Thor looked up from his desk. "What?" he asked.

"Halloween. Of course. I agreed to go to that party with you last year. Now you owe me."

"Oh. Yeah. What do you want to do?"

"Let's go dancing." Loki’s eyes were sparkling as he said it.

Thor smiled. It wasn't exactly his thing, but Loki had been to two more games since parent's weekend, and he'd promised to go to the big one at the end of the season. "Where do you want to go?"

"Okay, sit down," Loki said, even though Thor was already sitting. He swiveled his computer around. "The Black Cat's bringing in _Boy George_ to DJ."

Thor frowned in confusion. "Doesn't he mostly play house? I thought you didn't like house."

"I don't. But it's the principle of the thing. It's Boy George. I'm sure I'll like it if he's playing it."

"We'll go, then," Thor said. "Are there advance tickets?"

"I'm getting them right now," Loki said, pulling his computer back.

*****

Thor looked up in the middle of dinner that night. “I didn’t know you liked Boy George,” he said.

Loki’s face went pink. “Remember when the eighties got popular, a few years ago?”

“Yeah…”

“I kinda had a little bit of a giant crush on Boy George. I’m over it now,” he added hurriedly, “but I’d still like to go.”

Thor burst into laughter. “You had an eighties phase.”

“Did not. I just liked Culture Club,” Loki mumbled.

“Are you going to wear eighties clothes for Halloween?”

“Of course not,” Loki said reproachfully. “I’m sure he’d rather be appreciated for the work he does now, rather than thirty years ago. It would suck to look out at the crowd and see a bunch of people in Karma Chameleon outfits.”

“Even though that’s why you’re going.”

“He doesn’t need to know that. Have a little decency.”

*****

In the end, neither one of them got dressed up beyond normal nightclub attire, though Loki did repolish his nails. The air flow in Smith was too poor to do them last year; the polish left their room stinking for hours. This dorm was an older and leakier building, and the smell was gone quickly.

New polish was about all either one of them had time for, though. They both had far too many assignments to put the time into costumes that they had the year before.

“We can wear last year’s costumes again,” Thor said. It seemed reasonable.

Loki looked at him pityingly. “Those are for sex now, Thor,” he explained. “I thought that was obvious.”

*****

The show was great. Traffic was surprisingly light, and they got there in time to catch the opening DJ, which Loki had hoped to avoid, but even their set was surprisingly enjoyable. And when Boy George came on, he was actually really good. Good like Loki might have liked it even if it were someone else spinning. _That_ good.

Also good was how relaxed Thor seemed with Loki being affectionate in public. It wasn’t like Loki was all over him – that just wasn’t how Loki was – but things like a touch of the hand, or a loving smile instead of a friendly one… it was nice.

They held hands as they walked back to the car, laughing and sweaty.

But when they got to school and walked to their dorm, they didn’t.

*****

Thor didn't hesitate to show his affection that Tuesday afternoon, though, when Loki was getting ready for his first real field trip for geology class. Up to that point, the professor had been using the time to do a series of virtual reality field trips, which Loki had dreaded but turned out to be pretty fun. Their lecture hall was in the newest science building on campus, and it had a huge screen and surround sound, not IMAX but the next thing to it, and their prof was nice about letting them bring snacks. So Loki's experiences so far had been of sitting in a warm, dry room, munching popcorn and going on flyovers of Iceland and the Grand Canyon and the like.

Going outside for four hours on a damp day in November, to a mud-filled quarry no less, had much less appeal. Thor had been on this field trip the previous year, and the layers he was piling onto Loki - while they were sweet and thoughtful - didn't bode well.

"Do you have any waterproof socks?" Thor asked.

"Any _what_?" Loki asked him, aghast.

"Hang on. Let me get you some," Thor said, digging into his dresser.

By the time Loki left to meet the bus, he felt like that kid in The Christmas Story who couldn't put his arms down. At the meeting point, he methodically unwrapped himself until he could move again, and stood around with his arms loaded down with two coats, a sweater, a hat, two scarves, and a pair of gloves. He didn't have any friends in the class, and everyone else looked at him like he was crazy.

He liked it when the professor showed up. She glanced over the milling students before settling her attention on him. "I'm glad to see one of you has some sense," she said.

All those clothes made it a little more difficult to climb up and down when they reached their destination, but the quarry acted like a trap for the wind, and while the cold air bit right through to others' skin, Loki actually stayed comfortable. The result (in addition to feeling smug - he knew the credit went to Thor, but they didn't need to know that) was that when the rest of the class piled back onto the bus early, he was happy to continue exploring. That was how he was the one who came across the fossil.

"Professor Jackson!" he yelled, waving. "What's this?"

She clambered over to meet him. "That's a crinoid," she said. "I'm so pleased you noticed it, they can be hard to spot. You should take a picture."

*****

Thor was waiting when he got home. "I have the shower preheated for you," he said.  
  
"Thanks," Loki said, pleased. The ancient plumbing in their building meant the shower took forever to warm up, and even with all that bundling, Loki still felt like he was wearing a layer of mud. An instantly hot shower sounded like heaven.

Holding hands was good, but so was being taken care of.


	9. Midterms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor keeps a promise, with some help from Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd planned this chapter to be porn, but Loki had other ideas. I think he's getting jealous of the recent comments about how sweet Thor is. :)

"You're way too stressed," Loki said, digging his fingers into the knots that clustered around Thor's neck and shoulders. "Remember what you promised me during finals last term?"

"That I'd try not to worry so much about exams."

"And how well are you keeping that promise?"

Thor sighed. "Just because I'm failing miserably doesn't mean I'm not trying. Probably just the first of several things I'm going to fail this week."

"Hey, none of that," Loki said, leaning forward to wrap his arms around Thor's broad chest and nuzzle his ear. "I know how to make you relax," he added in a murmur, his hands moving towards the row of buttons down Thor's front.

"But-" Thor protested feebly, pointing at the stack of textbooks in front of him.

"Uh-uh-uh," Loki scolded. "You promised to try. I think that means you're contractually obligated to let me fuck you until you see stars. Or until you're not stressed anymore. Whichever one takes longer."

Thor laughed. "You should consider politics."

"Is that a yes?"Loki asked. He tilted his head down and licked at the pulse fluttering in Thor's throat, making him give a soft gasp.

"Well, we don't actually have a contract-" he broke off with a yelp as Loki nipped him. "But at the very least, I think I'm _morally_ obligated."

"So that's a yes?" Loki whispered as he slid Thor's sweater off his shoulders. His warm breath felt mesmerizing on the spit-slicked skin, and Thor felt his interest stirring.

"It is," he answered, turning to meet Loki's lips.

Loki kissed him gently, soft brushes of skin and lazy, undemanding strokes of tongue and affectionate nibbles on his ripe red lips. Thor sighed happily into Loki's mouth and twisted in his chair to face him better.

Chilly hands eased Thor's shirt over his head, making him shiver when they brushed across his stomach. "You're cold, baby," he said, taking one of Loki's hands between his own.

"You'll warm me," Loki answered. He straightened and grabbed the throw from the sofa and spread it on the floor. "Lay down on your back," he said.

Thor looked at him curiously, but did as he was asked. Loki sat down by his head and began to stroke airy lines across his face. He went along the ridges of his brow, down his nose, across his delicate eyelids and strong cheekbones, down his cheeks like gentle rain. He ran his fingertips along the delicate shells of Thor's ears and gave the lobes light, sweet pinches. He buried his fingers in Thor's hair and massaged his scalp until he groaned at the simple pleasure of it.

He rose and moved to Thor's feet, tugging off his shoes and socks as he sank back down. He worked both feet at the same time, a hand on each, digging his thumbs into the tired arches, squeezing his toes (narrowly resisting the urge to do 'this little piggy'), rubbing at the tendons in his ankles.

Thor lay in a grateful daze, enjoying the feel of soft hands caressing him so lovingly. His cock was half-hard, perfectly matching his languid arousal that could so easily glide into either sleep or sex. He kind of wanted Loki to nibble on his toes, but that seemed like something best requested right after a shower. When Loki whispered to him to roll over, he discovered that it was only with a surge of will that he could make his muscles obey. He relaxed onto his stomach with a happy purr, his cheek against the soft blanket.

Loki straddled him, sitting lightly on his ass, and continued the shoulder rub he'd begun while Thor was in his chair. He started with the two worst knots, placed just at either side of the prominent bone at the top of Thor's spine, burying his thumbs and trying to coax the tension out. He left them, after a few minutes, to work on smaller, easier spots, easing the tightness out and then returning to the bad ones. Each time they gave a little more, and then he'd work on different ones to avoid irritating the tense muscles. Long, fluid strokes down Thor's back and lightly drawn circles on his neck drained away the brief tension that flared when Loki's thumbs pressed to the point of pain. Finally even the worst knots gave way, first the left and then the right, angrier for all the writing he'd been doing.   
  
He continued on with gentle touches until Thor felt like a puddle beneath him. He draped himself onto Thor's back and finished by holding his hands cupped lightly over his ears. The feel of Loki's heart beating against him and the sound of his own heart echoing in his ears made him feel cocooned in softness.

"Now how do you feel?" Loki whispered when he moved his hands away.

Thor gave him a lazy smile. "Like my bones have turned to jelly."

Loki planted a kiss between his shoulder blades. "Do you want to have sex, or take a nap? I won't mind if you need to sleep."

"Mmmmmm. Nap first, then sex, maybe? If you really don't mind?"

"I don't. You go to bed. I'll be here when you wake up."   
  
  



	10. An Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frigga invites Odin and Loki to Ashton for Thanksgiving. 
> 
> It takes the boys a little while to hit the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These boys have been very headstrong lately. This chapter was supposed to have all of Thanksgiving but they had other plans. Good ones, of course.

"Loki! That was fast."

"Hi, dad. Yeah, you called when I was in class, I'm walking back to my dorm now. What's up?"

"I was wondering how you'd feel about something..." Odin trailed off.

"Uh-huh?"

"It's okay if you don't want to, I haven't given an answer yet. Frigga invited us to Ashton for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We've had our own traditions for so long, though, and if you want to stay home, I'll be happy to do that. Frigga will understand, as well."

Loki thought about their Thanksgivings. Odin got up early to start cooking, putting on Christmas carols for the first time of the year and singing along in his booming baritone, mumbling when he forgot the words. They always had both sweet and mashed potatoes, and Odin made the green beans that his own mother had always made, and Loki didn't really like them but they tasted like holidays so he ate them anyway. Odin was hopeless at cooking turkey so he always picked up a rotisserie chicken the night before and reheated it in the morning. There was always pumpkin pie and pecan pie and a third one that changed each year.

He didn't really want to give that up. At the same time, while he believed that neither his dad nor Frigga would be upset if he said he wanted to stay home, he could tell how much Odin wanted him to say yes. And it would be interesting to spend the holiday with Thor and his family. It would be like Thanksgiving always was on TV.

"Can we go there and then do ours on Friday?"

He could hear his father's smile across the miles. "Of course. Then we won't even have to have day-old chicken."

"I'd like that," Loki said.

"I will too," Odin said. "You must be almost to your dorm, I'll let you go warm up. I'll call Frigga."

"Tell her I said hi. And thank you."

*****

Loki was sprawled in his bunk reading when Thor floated in on a cloud of his own ebullience. He planted a solid kiss on Loki's knee, the only part of him he could reach.

"I heard you're coming for Thanksgiving," he said happily.

"Yeah, we are," Loki answered, setting down his book and rolling to face Thor.

"I think it'll be fun. I'm glad you're going to be there."

"I haven't ever been to a big one before. It's always just been dad and me."

"I hope you like it. Mom pulls out all the stops. And..." he said tantalizingly, "I'm coming home with you on Wednesday, and going with you to Ashton, so mom doesn't have to do the long drive."

"I pick the music," Loki said quickly.

Thor laughed. "I know," he said. "And when we get there - " he lowered his voice to a whisper, " - hot tub?"

"Bring your swimsuit," Loki said, smiling. "My dad will probably want to sit with us and 'catch up.'"

"At least I'll get to look at you all dripping wet."

*****   
They woke up on Wednesday to the beginnings of a bad snowstorm.

"Come on, lazybones, get up," Thor said, shaking the bed and laughing as Loki clutched at the sides of the mattress and moaned pitifully. "We need to hit the road before this gets worse."

"I've driven in worse," Loki mumbled.

"Me too, and it sucks," Thor said. "And so will I, if you're in the shower with me by the time the water is hot."  
  
 _That_ certainly made Loki open his eyes, and Thor smiled to himself as he went to the bathroom to get the shower going.

Loki got there just as the water was shifting from tepid to warm.

"See? I knew you could do it," Thor said.

Loki's smirk managed to be at once smug and groggy. "I thought _you_ were going to do it," he said.

Thor pulled back the curtain. "Get in," he said.

He followed Loki in and sank to his knees, his eyes half-closed against the spray that bounced off the wall. Loki blocked enough of the water for him to keep them open, though, and he watched Loki's face grow raw and hungry as he ran his tongue over his cock. It stiffened and throbbed as he licked, making him smile and rub his face against it.

The hot, humid air made Loki's scent stronger, but not unpleasantly so, and Thor took a moment to bury his face in the wet curls, letting his lungs fill with gentle musk, before moving back to lick and tease. The tip was just beginning to leak glistening beads, and Thor wrapped his hand around the shaft, squeezing more out and meeting Loki's eyes as he ran the broad swath of his tongue across it, gathering every drop of bitter saltiness and letting it fill his mouth. He gave a feral grin as Loki's head drooped forwards and his jaw fell open, panting softly as he watched.

Loki loved the knowing look Thor got on his face when he did this, how confident he was in his ability to drive Loki to madness with nothing more than a few carefully placed licks, before parting his lips and taking more. This was far more than a few, though, and soon enough the delicate glides through the slit and the gentle caresses of fragile folds had him slumped against the wall, fighting for breath in the steam-filled room.

"Please, Thor-" he gasped.

Thor smiled up at him. "Admit this was worth getting up early."

Loki groaned. "That's what you were waiting for? Yes, it's worth getting up early."

"No, really I was just waiting for you to beg, but I thought this would be fun too."

Loki groaned again and slouched further down the wall. Thor winked and took _everything_.

He bobbed his head, sucking a little more intensely each time he slid down until Loki's legs were shaking and he was gasping a warning of his closeness. It only made Thor suck harder. Wet sounds floated up to Loki, ones that didn't match what Thor was doing with his mouth. He peeled his eyes open to see Thor's arm moving rapidly, bringing them both together. Thor's eyes were squeezed tightly shut with tension, but the set of his lips around Loki's cock was beatific, and his skin seemed to glow with joy. Loki curved a hand around the back of Thor's head. _I would have you look like this forever,_  he thought. _Have you be this happy, whatever you do_. And then all thought was lost when Thor made a sound like heaven and he clenched his lips tight as he came, his moans vibrating from his throat straight into Loki's core where his own climax lay coiled and waiting, and set it free. Thor's come shot against his legs, hot and thick and blissful as Loki spilled down his noisy, eager throat. Loki tightened his fingers in Thor's wet hair, enough to show affection but still soft enough that Thor could easily move away if he felt the need.

They both came down slowly, the thick air making it difficult to slow their rough breathing. Loki slumped bonelessly against the cool tile wall, while Thor stayed on his knees, resting his head against Loki's hip.

"I suppose we'd better clean up and hit the road," Loki finally said, reluctantly. Being the voice of reason really was no fun at all.

"In a minute," Thor answered. He wrapped a strong arm around the backs of Loki's thighs and held him close.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	11. Thanksgiving Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The drive to Beuley and a day with Odin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised Thanksgiving in this chapter but it got very long and I'm trying to keep them of at least vaguely similar lengths. It really will be in chapter 12, I have it half-written. I promise.
> 
> Enjoy!

The dining hall wasn't open over the holiday, so they made a quick stop at Alchemy for coffee and pastries, laughing at the snow in their faces as they carried their steaming cups and loaded treat bag back to the car. The county roads were starting to ice, and they had to go slowly, but the interstate had just been plowed and fresh grit laid down for traction. Loki's hand went back and forth between the gear shift and Thor's thigh. Thor liked both, very much.

Despite his quick claim of the stereo, Loki had put a bunch of Thor's favorites on his ipod, and his new roadtrip playlist had a good bit of them mixed in. True love, Loki had decided, was when you didn't really mind listening to your boyfriend's horrible music. He glanced over and grinned as Thor strummed his fingers like guitar strings.

"You just got a text," Thor said. Loki'd given him his phone before starting driving, just in case.

"Probably my dad, would you read it?"

"Sure," Thor said, pulling it out of his pocket and swiping it awake. "It says..." his voice grew indignant. "It says, 'hey sexy, who's buttering your biscuits tomorrow?' What the hell, Loki?"

" _What?_ " said Loki. "Who's it from?"

Thor's serious face cracked into laughter. "It's from your dad, wanting to know when we're getting there."

"Jerk," Loki said, grinning. "Tell him half an hour."

Odin was well aware of the ineffectual heating system in Loki's car, and he had a pot of hot chocolate waiting for them. He greeted them at the door and then went to the kitchen to ladle them big mugs as they pulled off their wet shoes in the entryway.

"Marshmallows or whipped cream?" he called.

"Both," they said in union.

Loki grabbed Thor for a quick and not nearly messy enough kiss, paired with a smirk and a quick but delightful grab at his cock before they followed Odin.

"What I wouldn't give to have a teenage metabolism again," he chuckled as they joined him at the table.

"We're enjoying it for you," Loki said.

Thor smiled politely, trying desperately to keep his face from showing how very much he wanted to lick off Loki's whipped cream mustache.

"So, we still have most of the afternoon. What would you boys like to do today?" Odin asked. "The ice rink is open for winter."

Loki ignored the hopeful look on Thor's face. "I don't really feel like skating," he said. Actually, he did. He loved it, and he hadn't been in forever. He used to go there on dates in high school, and in his mind it was something you did with someone special, holding hands and doing silly tricks together. Better not to pick at that scab too closely. Not right now. "Let's play Apples to Apples."

"I've never played that," Thor said.

"It's like Cards Against Humanity for nice people," Loki explained.

"Oh. Okay, that sounds fun too."

"And Thor wants to use the hot tub," Loki added, rubbing Thor's leg with his foot under the table and watching his face react.

Odin nodded. "That is nice on a cold day. Should we play for a while and call for delivery when we want dinner? There's going to be so much cooking the next couple of days, I'd rather not do any today. Then hot tub before bed?"

"That sounds great, dad." Loki's foot snuck further up, teasing at the insides of Thor's thighs before setting down in his lap and rubbing lightly.

"Do we play in here?" Thor asked in a strangled voice.

Loki gave him a friendly smile. "The table in the den is better," he said.

"It's very cozy in here, though," Thor said to Odin. "I love what you've done with the place."

"Thank you, Thor. How nice to have someone notice," Odin said with a pointed stare at his son, who Thor thought looked _obscenely_ innocent for what he was currently doing with his toes. "We can just move the lazy susan out the way. It's no trouble at all."

He stood and moved the small turntable out of the way, lifting it carefully to avoid spilling the salt and pepper, before going to fetch the game.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me right now," Thor hissed.

Loki shrugged. "You made me beg in the shower," he said.

"You liked it!"

"Mmmm. I like this, too."

"But-"

"Don't you want me to be happy, Thor?" He batted his eyelashes.

Thor sighed and tried very hard to keep his face from turning red as Odin came back carrying the game.

Everyone played their best, but with Loki the only one with a good familiarity of both other players, he finished the game with more cards than Thor and Odin combined.

Odin had them write down what they wanted for dinner (pizzas, large, one with everything and one green goddess, plus whatever Odin wanted to eat), and let them start filling the hot tub while he waited for the door.

The food arrived just as it was full, and they ate happily, washing it down with Odin's homemade root beer somewhat less happily - he'd taken up a new hobby, and was still learning. As Loki had warned, Odin did join them. At least Loki didn’t continue his earlier teasing, what with Thor’s lap hidden now only by bubbles.

The water was hotter than they’d intended, and Loki had to climb out sooner than he’d have liked, looking as red as a beet. He gave Thor a cheerful smile and went upstairs to change into his pajamas. Thor tried not to look panicked as he panicked, wondering what to talk about. It turned out he didn’t need to worry.

“Can I get your advice?” Odin said suddenly.

“Sure,” Thor said, surprised.

“Frigga mentioned something a few weeks ago about how she’s always wanted to go to Mexico, and I know how she hates the cold. I thought I’d get her a short trip for a Christmas present, let her have a few days to warm up. But she didn’t say what part she wanted to see, and I didn’t want to be too obvious with questions.”

“I don’t really know,” Thor admitted. “She likes history. Maybe Chichen Itza?”

Odin grinned. “Perfect,” he said.

“What’s perfect?” asked Loki, wandering back in.

“A trip to Mexico for my mom.”

“Oh. That sounds nice.”

“I think she’ll like it,” Odin agreed. “Well, you boys have a good night. This old man is going to bed,” he said, standing to climb out.

They wished him goodnight and watched him go.

“I’m going to stay in a few more minutes, if you don’t mind. My feet are ready to be done with football season, and this feels really good,” Thor said, easing onto his back and placing his tired feet in front of a couple jets.

“No problem,” Loki said, sitting down on a dry patch near Thor’s head.

They chatted for a few more minutes, Loki playing idly with Thor’s hair, until Thor gave his toes an experimental wiggle and declared them happy.

Loki watched him dry off, making an appreciative face when his swimsuit came off, and one that was less so when he put on his pajamas. Thor joined him to sit together on the edge of the unfolded sofa bed. "Do you think your dad would wake up if I snuck upstairs with you?" Thor asked. "I could set an alarm and come back down really early."

Loki's shoulders slumped. "He's a really light sleeper," he said sadly. Fun as it had been to tease Thor for hours, he knew Thor was thinking of spring break just like he was. It had been so nice to share his spacious bed. Even if they just slept in each other's arms, that would still be so lovely... but it was too risky. Loki had never been able to sneak out when he was younger. Odin _always_ woke up when there were footsteps on the stairs. "I don't think we can."

"Okay," Thor said, pulling Loki closer. It was easy to lose track of time like this, arms around each other's waists, heads rested together, talking softly. They both jumped when the clock struck one. "We should go to sleep," Thor said. "My mom will kill us if we're late tomorrow. She times everything perfectly."

"Okay. Goodnight," Loki said, turning to kiss him softly.

"Goodnight," Thor said as he watched Loki go.  
  
  



	12. Thanksgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin is nervous. Frigga has a pretty good idea why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something a little different. I hope you like it. Sorry about the lack of dialog - their dinner is based on my own country-family dinners, and despite years of listening to football conversations, I don't remember enough of it to write a good one, and I'd rather skip it than write it poorly.

Thor was woken by the coffee maker's noisy puffs of steam, and he wandered to the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. "Good morning," he mumbled.

"Good morning," said Odin. "I already had a shower, if you want one while there's still hot water I suggest you beat Loki."

Thor grinned. "Thanks."

He showered quickly and decided, from the noise in the kitchen, that it was safe to go wake his sleeping beauty.

"What time is it?" Loki asked, looking cranky.

"Six thirty," Thor said.

"I hate everything," Loki answered.

Thor grinned and kissed him.

*****

Odin made them waffle sandwiches for breakfast, savory buckwheat waffles filled with sausage and scrambled eggs.  
  
“This is incredible,” Thor said halfway through his first bite. At least that was what it sounded like he said, and that was how Odin took it. “Sorry, I got excited,” he added after swallowing and wiping his lips. “This is incredible.”

Odin grinned at him. “Thanks. We’re under strict orders to eat a hearty breakfast, since dinner isn't til two.”

Thor nodded. “On the dot. She has it down to a science.”

That was easy to believe; every time Odin and Frigga were on the phone and she told him about her day, he was re-impressed with her ability to get so much done. He’d complimented her on it once, and she pointed out that it was a skill borne of necessity.

If things went how he was hoping they would, she wouldn’t have that necessity much longer. If she answered the way he hoped.

After breakfast, they piled into the car. Odin was tempted to bring along a CD of Loki’s favorite sing-along songs from childhood, the one that they would play for hours when he was little, flipping the tape again and again. Loki didn’t embarrass as easily as when he was a few years younger, but he definitely wasn’t past it, and Odin had to tread a fine line between compassion and hilarity. He decided not to bring it along and instead inform his son (later, in private) that he owed his dad a huge favor. One Odin would call in at some unknown point in time.

“Is this seat heated?” Thor asked about five minutes into the drive.

“Yup,” Odin said. “Nice, huh?”

“Can I just live in your car?”

Odin laughed. “I think you’d get leg cramps eventually.”

They fell into companionable silence, and within half an hour both boys were asleep, lulled by the hum of tires and the warmth of the seats and the feeling – rare and precious for college students, he remembered very well – of having nothing at all that they had to do.

He smiled as they passed a billboard for a Senate candidate. _Better you than me, sister,_  he thought to himself. He remembered the time, years before, not long after he had married, when the president of the Chamber of Commerce came to his office and asked him to run for office. “You’re the perfect rags-to-riches story,” he had said. “You’d really clean up the votes. You have the potential to be someone very powerful.” He had given it some consideration –he _could_ be very powerful, if he played the game well – but ultimately decided against it. He liked being married, and he and Farbauti had started talking about adopting. Co-owning a business with happy, well-treated employees and having a good family life… that was enough. He had never regretted it.

Loki woke up when the tires crunched on the gravel driveway. Thor had to be shaken awake, wiping at his chin with his sleeve.

Frigga heard it too, and when Odin looked up, she was standing in the doorway, the warm glow of the lights behind her like a halo.

*****

She knew she was letting in the cold air, but they were _so_ good to see. She and Odin had had one visit to Greenrock since parent's weekend, but it was over a month since she'd seen Thor, and she did miss him. He'd been such a handful growing up, but he'd blossomed into a man who made her proud to call him her son. She waved as they approached the door, Thor bounding ahead to hug her. She still remembered the day she realized he was taller than her. He'd already been broader for quite some time.

Odin was next, and his hug was just as warm. Loki was last, a little awkward in the embrace as always, as though he wasn't much used to it. His smile when they broke apart was genuine, though. He'd adjust eventually.

"Come in, come in," she said, standing aside for them. They followed her to the crowded sitting room for introductions. "Odin, Loki, these are Lena and Henry, good friends of Freyr's and mine from childhood, and their son, Joey, and their daughter, Alice. Everyone, this is Odin and Loki."

Odin shook hands with everyone. He'd heard quite a bit about Lena, and though he hid it well, Frigga could tell he was nervous about making a good impression. Loki hung back, standing close to Thor and nodding his hellos.

"Thor, Bragi, can you give me a few minutes in the kitchen? Loki, another set of hands would be welcome, as well," she said. He smiled gratefully and followed.

The three young men filled the small kitchen, so she stood in the doorway and gave orders, coordinating them all like marionettes. She'd spent several hours in there already, and it was fun to watch other people work for a while. Soon they were carrying dish after dish to the table, the fragrant steam luring the other guests in.

"These seats are for my helpers," she said, pointing to the three chairs nearest the kitchen. There wasn't anything else to bring before dessert, but with the way Loki's eyes had flared when he saw the size of the group, she wanted to make sure he was next to Thor.

The dishes started their progression around the table, each person taking something from the one in front of them and then passing to the left. Plates slowly filled with biscuits, turkey, two kinds of stuffing ("the one in the blue dish has oysters," she warned Lena, who rolled her eyes at her friend's taste), cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes ("two kinds this year?" Bragi asked, making her nod and send Odin a quick smile, which he met), wild rice, and the terribly unfashionable jello salad that always made everyone groan when they saw it but there were never leftovers. Small bowls with butter and lingonberry jam dotted the table. Henry had been sober for three years, so there was just sparkling cider to drink, with a bottle of wine tucked discreetly in the back of the fridge to enjoy after he'd headed home.

Odin sat beside Lena, and it was difficult to keep her face neutral as she watched him trying his best to ingratiate himself. From the look on Lena's face, she knew exactly what was going on and found it every bit as entertaining as Frigga did.

Talk at first centered largely around Lake State football. Most of the people there had seen every game on TV, and had lots of questions for Thor. Alice and Loki sat smiling politely. When the conversation began to fracture into smaller groups around the table and they were still quiet, Thor paused his explanation of one of the team's more complex plays to tell them that they had the same favorite book. She reached under the table and patted his knee as he casually returned to the football conversation and the two of them began to talk, their voices low and excited.

It took an hour of digesting before anyone could even think of dessert, and another hour before they ate it. Odin and Loki left not long afterwards, wanting to reach the interstate while there still at least a little light to guide them on the unfamiliar country roads.

Before they left, Odin had invited her to meet in Beuley next time, rather than Greenrock. She'd only been there once, briefly, both of them preferring to meet closer together and enjoy the extra time it bought them. The museum attached to the biological gardens was putting on an exhibit of works by Maria Sibylla Merian, whom he knew she loved, to try and drum up winter visitors.

She rather suspected, from the way he shuffled his feet, that he was planning something else as well.  
  
*****

Loki was woken the next morning by the sound of his father singing along to the Carol of the Bells, of all things, long silences punctuated by sudden _dings_ and _dongs_ , the final one threatening to shake the house right off its foundation. Odin was more than a little off-key, and it was _far_ too early to be waking up, not to mention the fact that Loki absolutely hated that song.

He smiled and went downstairs to help.  
  
  



	13. Transitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finals and a meeting, of sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Thanksgiving fell late that year, and it felt like they had no more gotten back to campus than it was time for finals and break.  
  
Loki left his geology final feeling better than he had hoped; Thor had drilled him mercilessly. Loki _did_ regret that the phrase was not a double entendre – they’d both been studying too much for the longer frolics they both enjoyed - but he didn’t regret the confidence that hit when he opened the exam packet and realized he knew the answers. Even better was when he turned to the last page and found an extra credit question, asking people to draw something unusual they had found on a field trip. Dr. Jackson gave him a friendly smile when he was the first one to turn in his test.

Thor was, as always, far too stressed. He seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, as though each exam had the potential to ruin his chances at grad school and all the good he wanted to do with what he learned. Loki still didn’t really understand the feeling (he still had plans for writing the great American novel, though having it done by twenty was starting to look distinctly unlikely, and besides that he mostly just wanted to enjoy his life), and Loki worried about him fretting so, but… he couldn’t say that he didn’t appreciate Thor’s motivation. He wanted to do good things and make a real difference, and Loki could respect that, even if he didn’t share the impulse.

And he _was_ working on handling it better. “You can’t save the world if you work yourself to death,” Loki had told him as he sat between Loki’s knees, Loki balancing carefully on the back of the couch and running his fingers through the thick blond hair while Thor studied German declensions. “Ja, das ist wahr,” Thor had sighed, which Loki decided to take as agreement. Sometimes he thought it would have been fun for them to take the same language, but German classes were mainly offered in the morning, while there were plenty of afternoon sections of Spanish.

After Thor finished his last exam, he went back to their room, to find Loki still hunched over his computer. “Natasha and I traded papers for our Russian lit class to get comments,” he explained. “I’m halfway through hers.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” Thor asked hesitantly.

Loki shrugged. “Our prof suggested it. We’re writing about different books, so it’s not like we’re going to copy ideas.”

“Oh. That makes sense,” Thor said. He stretched luxuriously. “Gosh, I just feel so relaxed, being all done.”

Loki glared. “Don’t rub it in,” he said.

“I think I’m too relaxed to even keep carrying my clothes around,” Thor added with wide-eyed innocence, pulling his sweater over his head with slow deliberation.

“Three more hours,” Loki pleaded. “Please, it’s already hard enough to focus this close to the end.”

“That’s the idea,” Thor agreed, unzipping his jeans one tooth at a time.

“This is so unfair.”

“Oh, I think you had it coming.” The look on Loki’s face as he finished undressing was priceless. Even better was when Thor stretched out on his bed wearing nothing but a smile.

Three hours later, just as Loki had predicted, he sent in his essay and turned back to Thor, whom he’d been studiously ignoring while he did final edits based on what Nat had written. Sometime since Loki had managed to tear his eyes away, Thor had burrowed into his blankets and fallen into a blissful sleep. His jaw hung just a little slack, as it often did when he slept, and his eyelashes fluttered as he dreamed. Loki watched him sleep until it was time to go to dinner.

He didn’t let Thor go back to sleep after they ate, though.

The second the door closed behind them, he slammed Thor against the wall and kissed him fiercely. "You owe me," he hissed as he tore at Thor's clothes.

Thor grinned. "That's the idea," he said, echoing his earlier teasing.

Loki bent him over a desk chair, because that seemed the most appropriate, and took him hard and fast. Every thrust drew the most delicious sounds out of him, somewhere between a sob and a gasp, and that, combined with the hours of tormenting thoughts, conspired to make the fuck fast and demanding. Loki reached around for Thor's cock as he felt himself getting close. Thor came the moment he touched it, his muscles tense as his body jerked helplessly. He clenched tight around Loki with each wave of his orgasm, bringing him into a shared climax.

When it finished they were panting and sagging, Thor doubled over the chair and Loki across his back. Loki straightened carefully and withdrew, gentle hands helping Thor to stand on shaking legs. They stumbled across the room to their bed and collapsed onto their backs.

Thor glanced down at the hip Loki had held as he came. "I think I'm going to have bruises from your fingers," he said.

"I'm sorry," Loki said, his face tinting adorably pink. "I didn't realize I was holding on that hard. I'll try to be more careful."

But Thor shook his head _no_. "I liked it. And I'll like seeing you on me while we're on break."

*****

The Merian exhibit was as beautiful as Frigga had expected. Her whole visit was as beautiful as she had expected. It was hard saying goodbye, even knowing that in a few more months their distance would be gone.

Frigga drove for perhaps a mile before she stopped in an empty lot and pulled out her phone. Destination found, she turned on voice directions and merged back into traffic. She felt nervous, and she felt silly for feeling nervous, but she also felt she needed to do this. The sun was just setting as she parked on the side of the road by the town cemetery. The air was chilly, and she tugged her hood up as she walked through the rows of quiet graves, row P, row Q… row R. The one she wanted was four to her left.

She knelt next to the stone, brushing away the snow and fallen leaves. “Hello, Farbauti,” she said in a quiet voice. “I’m Frigga. I’m going to marry Odin. I love him very much, and I’m growing to love Loki as well. I promise that I will take the best care of them that I can. I just wanted you to know.”

She let her hand rest on the stone for a moment before she stood. A light snow began to fall. The snowflakes settled on her eyelashes and caught the warm glow of the sunset, and the white world sparkled rose and gold.


	14. Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big news, and how to handle it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

The second day home, Odin glanced at his watch and nervously asked Loki to turn his phone off. "This seems awfully familiar, dad," he said as he watched the screen go black.

"Yes... well." Odin took a deep breath. "I asked Frigga to marry me," he said.

Loki looked at him. "Why do you look so worried?" he asked, before gasping. "Don’t tell me she said she needs time to think about it."

Odin relaxed. Visibly. "No, she said yes," he answered happily. "I take it your reaction means you're okay with this?"

Loki laughed. "It keeps getting weirder," he admitted, "but yes, I'm okay with it. I think she's really great. Isn't this kind of fast, though? I mean, you haven't been dating much more than a year," Loki said.

"It is, but we both know our own minds, and we're both too aware of how fast love can be snatched away, so we decided not to wait."

"Yeah. I guess if you love each other, you should do what you want."

"We do. We also really _like_  each other."

Loki rolled his eyes. "That seems a little further down the scale."

"I thought the same thing at your age," Odin smiled. "But the older I get, the more I think like is more important than love. If you love someone you don't like, you'll be miserable. If you like someone you don't love, you'll still be happy with them. And when you find both in one person, son... treasure it with all your heart."

He grinned. "Yes, dad."

Odin's face grew serious. "There's something else I want to talk to you about, as well."

Loki schooled his face to hide his nervousness as he nodded.

"It's about my will."

Loki looked away, twisting his hands together beneath the table. "You know I hate talking about that stuff," he said. It was true, he _hated_  it. He couldn't remember losing his mother, but he did remember the nightmares, each one different but always ending in him being lost or abandoned. He went to a therapist for ages when he was little, and it helped, but it still bothered him terribly to think of something happening to Odin.

"I know, but this affects you, and I need to know how you feel."

"Okay." He stared at the floor.

"After Frigga and I are married, I plan to change my will to make you and Thor equal heirs." Odin's face was tense and worried again when Loki looked up.

"Okay. Can I go now?" he asked, sliding out of his chair. Odin caught his arm.

"You're really okay with this?"

Loki thought for a minute, trying to find the right words before he looked up to meet his father's eyes. "You're paying for me to go to college without any loans. That's _huge,_  Dad, half my friends are already getting ulcers worrying about them. And... even though I'm adopted, you've never treated me as anything less than completely yours. I wouldn’t expect you to treat Thor any differently. Or want you to."

Odin had to swallow the lump in his throat before he could answer. "You know, every time I think I couldn't be any prouder of you, you find a way to prove me wrong," he said roughly, standing up to squeeze one arm around Loki's shoulders. "Okay, you can go now."

Loki bolted for the door, Odin's voice trailing up the stairs after him. "No calling Thor before eight."

He turned his phone on when he got to his room and dialed his voicemail. His heart was pumping fast and his hands were shaking as he held it up to his ear, but he felt himself slowly relax as he listened to Thor's messages. It wasn't anything in particular that he said in them. Just hearing Thor's voice made things better.  
  
*****

Frigga glanced at the clock and nodded to Freyr.

He stood abruptly. "Bragi, let's go get ice cream," he said.

Bragi stared at him. "It's December," he pointed out.

"We'll get hot fudge," Freyr said, looking at him sternly.

He stood up to follow. "Good luck, man," he whispered as he went through the living room, passing Thor, who was watching TV.

Frigga watched the door close behind them and muted the TV before taking a seat next to her son.

He gave her a wry look. "It's time for an important conversation, isn't it?"

She nodded. "It is, and I'm pretty nervous about it. How do you think it's going to go?" she asked.

"Hmm. I'd give it ninety percent odds that you're going to say you and Odin are getting married and I'll tell you that I'm really happy for you and he's a great guy, and ten percent odds that you're going to say you broke up and I'll tell you that he's an idiot who doesn't appreciate when something good is right in front of him."

Her face split into a grin. "You got it. We're thinking a June wedding, once you and Loki are back from school. Something small and relaxed, a good chance to have a get-together with friends."

"That sounds really nice."

"And what did you mean, ten percent?" she teased.

"Sometimes people do dumb things," he shrugged. "But I'm glad that didn't happen this time."

She hugged him. "I love you, sweetheart," she said. "No using your phone until eight."

He gave her a tight squeeze back. "I love you too, mom. I'm glad you're happy."

*****

Loki called Thor at eight on the dot.

Thor answered on the first ring. “Wow,” he said. “I mean, hi. Wow.”

“I know. Weird, huh?”

“That’s an understatement. My mom seems really happy, though.”

“Dad, too. Look, Thor…”

“I know. You’re right,” Thor interrupted. “We have to tell them. It’s- a lot, though. Can we talk about it on Christmas Eve?”

“Why then?” Loki asked with a frown.

“Your dad didn’t tell you that we're coming there for it? It’ll be our last Christmas in Ashton, so we want to be here for that, but we're going to come see you too.”

“No, he didn’t. I guess he was nervous telling me the other stuff and forgot.” Loki elected not to tell Thor about running away from the conversation. He knew perfectly well why he reacted the way he did, but he was… self-conscious about it, all the same.

“Is it okay if we wait to discuss it in person? I’m kinda nervous about it.” Thor gave an embarrassed laugh.

“That’s fine, baby. Brother,” Loki added teasingly.

“Hey, Mom asked what time you were born, and it turns out I have over five hours on you. So _you’re_ the one who’s getting called baby brother, if you want to play that.”

Loki laughed. "I don't really think there's any _ifs_ about it, do you?"


	15. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki learns something about his mother, and a Christmas Eve visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!
> 
> [This](http://www.cthulhulives.org/store/storeDetailPages/avss.html) is Loki's preferred Christmas music.

 

“Does it feel weird, replacing Mama?” Loki asked.

Odin whirled to him. “No one will _ever_ replace your mother,” he said.

Loki sighed, frustrated with himself. “I'm sorry. That’s not what I meant. I meant… I don’t know.”  
  
Odin looked at him. “Wait here.” He was out the door, and when he came back he had a fancy paper in his hand. “This is your mother’s will,” he said, holding it out. “Read the fifth paragraph.”

Loki took it. The paper felt heavy, almost creamy in its thickness. He read. _I leave one last thing to my husband. Odin, if you meet someone who makes you happy, hold on to that and make her happy too. No guilt over my memory. I leave you my blessing._

Loki looked up. Odin’s eyes were as wet as his own. “She added that when she found out that she wasn’t going to get better,” he said. “There’s no _replacing_ someone who would put that in her will. But if you wanted to know if it is hard to love again, the answer is no. And it’s because I know she meant every word of that.”  
  
“I had no idea,” Loki said, his voice shaky.

“I never meant to hide it from you,” Odin told him. “I could never find the right moment somehow. I’m sorry if I should have told you sooner.”

“No. This was right,” said Loki. He wasn’t sure if, before Thor, he would have understood.

*****

After taking time off at the beginning of the month, Frigga had to work right up through the twenty-third. The next morning she and Thor got up and loaded the car with cheerfully wrapped boxes, snacks (carrot sticks and whole wheat pita chips, Frigga had insisted, before smiling and adding a bag of chips to their shopping cart), thermoses filled with hot coffee, and extra blankets and flares in case the weather decided to turn fouler than predicted.

The sky kept its peace, though, as they made their way to Beuley. The clouds hung low and gray above them, but that was the worst they did. Traffic was light, and they made good time. The exits became more frequent as they reached the outskirts of town, and Frigga's consumption of the carrot sticks seemed to match.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Thor asked as she reached yet again for the bag.

She cast him a quick, anxious smile. "A little nervous about seeing Loki," she admitted. "Nineteen is a little old to be getting a mother for the first time, even a step one. And he's..." she searched for a word to convey her meaning without being too heavily laden; she didn't know if Loki had told Thor as much of some parts of his life as Odin had told her. "He's sensitive."

"Yeah, he is," Thor agreed easily. "But he really does like you. He wouldn't have told me that if he didn't mean it."

"No, I believe you there."

Frigga remembered almost all the directions from her last visit, and only had to have Thor check them once, at an intersection notable mainly for how forgettable it was. And then they were parking in front of the house and it was all lit up against the gray day, and they entryway was warm and bright and filled with _Merry Christmases_.

Odin looked as nervous as Frigga had seemed. Loki looked amused, and Thor guessed that the same conversation had happened here, as well.  
  
"Keep your coat on," Loki told Thor. "I want to show you this new piece of glass I got."

"Okay," Thor said, rezipping it.

"Um, would you like to see it too? It's really pretty," Loki asked Frigga.

She shook her head _no_. "Later on, the heater in my car is terrible. I need to warm up."

"I thought you got that fixed?" Odin asked as they watched their sons disappear towards the garage.

"I did, but I think Loki was trying to get him away so they could talk privately. This is a huge upheaval in their lives."

Odin nodded. "Well, you get unbundled, then. _I_ want to show you the cookies I made."

*****

Loki had barely shut the garage door behind them before Thor was pulling him close.

"I get you all year," Thor whispered just before their lips met. They kept their kisses light, avoiding the tell-tale reddened lips that both of them got deliciously easily, enjoying the feel of having their arms back around each other.

"I get _you_ all year," Loki answered between kisses. "And Dad's talking about redoing the room with the hot tub to make it into a bathroom, and turning the den into their room, and giving you his current room. Then we'd have the upstairs basically to ourselves. He said it was the fairest thing he could think of, and that that way they wouldn't be bothered by - and he actually did air quotes here - 'teenager noise.' "

Thor laughed. "I'd kinda hoped they'd say we were sharing a room, but having the whole floor and not worrying about noise does sound really nice."  
"Yeah. And our stuff'll be in different rooms, but that doesn't mean we have to be."

"Mmm-hmm. So... how do we tell them?"

Loki looked thoughtful. "I say we either go do it right now and get it over with, or wait until they're not together, and whichever one of us has a good chance just does it, and then the other one has to do it too."

"The second one. It'll be hard enough talking to just one of them."

"Oh, well, you could just tell my dad. You could go up to him and go, 'Sir, I just wanted to tell you, your son is the most perfect cockfiend I could ever hope to meet and I love him very much.'"

Thor groaned.

"And I could go tell your mom-" Thor's hand clamped down over Loki's mouth. Loki's eyes twinkled at him in amusement.

"No, you couldn't. But you're right, though," he said, his voice dropping, "you _are_ the most perfect cockfiend I could ever hope to meet, and I _do_ love you very much."

Thor jumped slightly when Loki licked his palm, and dropped his hand.

"You can't get me hard when we're about to go out there and talk to them, it's not fair," Loki said.

"Well, it would be another option for how to tell them," Thor said, grinning.

Loki pinched his ass. "Come on, I really do want to show you this piece of glass." He went to his cupboard and pulled it out. It was a small piece, and had two patterns mixed together, swirls of black and green twining together with a soft gold spotted with cornflower blue.

"It's us," Thor said softly.

Loki nodded. "I thought I'd make it into something to hang in our window. What design do you think I should do?"

Thor looked at it a moment. "Is it too boring to just make it into a circle, and keep it how it is?" he asked.

"No. A circle is what I thought, too," Loki said, putting it carefully away.

*****  
They gathered around the table in the kitchen, the gleaming copper adding to the warmth of the room. Odin kept everyone busy with things to chop and stir, and they took turns with the stereo, Odin putting on his favorite opera singers Christmas albums, Frigga her poppy ones, Loki repeatedly playing his Scary Solstice CD. Thor didn't have his iPod and he offered to give his turn to Loki, but was shot down.

"There's only so many times I can listen to songs about turning into fish men," Odin said.

"That's my favorite one on that album," Loki protested.

"I know," said Odin.

By the time the meal was ready, everyone was so stuffed on cookies that they didn't really do much more than nibble. Which turned out to be for the best.

"Oh," said Odin, taking a bite of roast. "This recipe _looked_ good."

"I did wonder about the temperature of the oven, but I didn’t want to say anything," Frigga admitted.

Odin sighed. "I make really good waffles," he said.

Loki nodded. "Dad's best with carbs."

Frigga laughed. "You're right, Loki, the potatoes are tasty. I'm sure we'll get the cooking worked out, Odin. I think we're going to get everything worked out." 


	16. Truth Will Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Odin and Loki stood on the front step, waving as the car started down the road and disappeared around the corner, before going back inside and kicking the snow off their shoes.

"Thor really is a fine young man," Odin said. "If I had a daughter, he's just what I would want for her."

Loki's stomach knotted. _Well, there was hardly going to be a better opening than this,_  he thought. "What about for your son?" he asked quietly.  
  
Odin's face was a mask of puzzlement before things fell into place. "For my- _oh_. But I thought... I mean, all the girls you dated in high school?"  
  
"I like girls. But I love Thor."

Odin blinked a few times before he nodded. "I see. I think. And yes, to answer your question. He _is_  just what I would want for my son." His face grew anxious. "How was that? Did I do all right?"

Loki relaxed, breathing a soft laugh before answering. "Yeah, Dad. That was fine."

"Oh, good. It's just that I know how important it is to handle it well when your kid comes out and I only have one shot at it."

"You were fine. Really."

Odin tousled his hair. "Thanks. So, is Thor, um... requited?"

"Our first anniversary is two weeks from now," Loki said shyly.

*****

Thor's phone chirped in his pocket when they were halfway home.

_I just told dad_

_he said he'll keep it secret until you're ready to tell your mom, but he'd appreciate if it's soon, he doesn't want to lie to her_

That was reasonable enough, of course. Odin had always been good to Thor, and Thor hardly wanted to repay that by putting Odin in the position of having to choose between breaking his son's trust or lying to his fiancée.

_I'll tell her when we get home, before we go inside_

Coming out to Frigga alone would be plenty; his uncle and cousin could be dealt with later. If he really had to, which he supposed he did. He sat and watched the snowy world pass by.

"Okay, kid," Frigga said as she pulled into the garage. "You haven't said a word since you got that text. What's up?"

He took a deep breath as she shut off the ignition. At least she seemed willing to sit in the dim light in here while they talked. Up until the moment he saw Loki's text, he'd been at least vaguely sure that she would be all right with it. Now that this was imminent, though, his confidence was plummeting.

"It's..." He took another deep breath and blew it out hard.

She patted his hand. "You know, there's not many things that are as bad as all that, and if it is, it's something better shared."

"I hope so." His mind flashed suddenly to when he was a little kid and had to take off a band-aid. He counted down in his head, _three - two - one_ , and tore it off. "I'm gay. Loki's my boyfriend."

Frigga sighed. _Fuck. He'd let her down._  And then she started laughing. "Thank God," she said. "Do you have any idea what you've put me through, trying to talk about you two with Odin without either letting it slip _or_ flat-out lying?"

He looked over at her, just able to make out her expression now that his eyes had adjusted. "You knew? When did you figure it out?"

She thought a moment. "I had a gut feeling when I came to pick you up for Christmas break last year, and I knew for sure when I took you out to lunch at the start of winter term."

Thor laughed. "Yeah. Me, too."

She patted his knee. "So, we're all set then? It's starting to get cold in here."

"Yeah... um. You really don't mind? I always kind of thought you wanted grandkids."

"I do, but I think you should have some say in that as well," she said dryly. "And I think we know someone who can recommend a good adoption agency."  
  
*****

Freyr was home, sitting in his favorite recliner watching something about the upcoming Bowl games. He nodded in greeting as they came in. "Bragi's out with some friends, he said you should call him when you got back."

"Thanks, I will," Thor said. _Right after I call Loki._

Frigga yawned. "I'm hitting the sack early tonight," she said. "My keys are in my purse if you want to take the car."

"Thank you, mom," he said, meeting her eyes.

Her own were warm. "I love you, honey," she said.

Freyr, watching the statistics scrolling across the screen, missed it all.

*****

Frigga was curled up under her blankets, letting her feet slowly warm up as they talked.

"If they break up while they're still in school, the house is going to be awkward," Odin said.

Frigga smiled. "Somehow, I don't think they're going to."

"They do seem happy, but they're so young."

"They are," she agreed. "But Thor is _so_ much like you, and Loki is a lot like me, and they're both smart enough to know a good thing when they've got it."

When he answered, she could hear the matching smile in his voice. "You do know I love you for your brain, right?"  
  
"I do." She rolled onto her side, tugging the blankets closer around her neck. "Tell me what else you love about me."


	17. Joys and Sorrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A happy anniversary, and a less happy conversation.

"I did it," Thor said.

"How did it go?" Loki asked.

"She already knew," Thor said wryly.

"She did? How?"

"Well, she claims she's not psychic, but I'm not sure how much I believe it."

"Yeah," Loki said. "So... she's okay with it?"

"Yeah. Better than okay. She likes you a lot."

"That certainly makes things easier. My dad likes you a lot, too."

"I'm glad. Hey, umm... about our anniversary."

"Uh-huh?" Loki asked casually, trying to hide his sigh of relief. He hadn't really been sure whether or not Thor would remember the date, and he didn't know how to ask without sounding clingy.

"How do you feel about homemade presents? It's right between Christmas and Valentine's, and I'm kinda broke." Thor felt a little bad about having to ask, but after using up his student job money from last term on Christmas, he only had five bucks until his next paycheck. He had a little something he was working on that he thought Loki would probably like okay, but it certainly couldn't rival what Loki would find were to go shopping.

"Yeah, sure," Loki said.

*****

Their anniversary was the second day back at school. This term Thor had long shifts on the desk at the gym on Tuesday afternoons, so after class Loki ran into town to pick up a few things. When Thor walked in, he found Loki sitting on a blanket spread on the floor, a candle in the middle and a junk food picnic spread around.

"You're the best," he said. "Unless those Funyuns are a hint that you don't want me to kiss you."

"Nope. I just know you like them."

Thor slipped out of his heavy layers and sat down across from Loki, who promptly handed him a lumpy package. "I couldn't find the right size box," he admitted, looking at it dubiously.

"That's okay." Thor dug into his bag to get out Loki's present. "Here, you open yours first."

Loki's eyes sparkled. "Okay," he agreed.

He slid his finger carefully under the flap, lifting the tape and pulling the paper away, to find he was holding a small notebook with a shiny red cover. He tilted his head in curiosity as he opened the front cover. "Oh," he breathed.

 _January 7th,_  read the first entry. _You kissed me. It was heaven._

_January 8th. When I went to bed, my pillow smelled like your hair._

Loki flipped forwards. There was an entry for every single day. Sometimes it was a single line, sometimes Thor had written paragraphs. He turned to the end.

 _January 7th. I'm about to leave the gym to come home and give this to you. I really hope you don't think it's stupid._  
  
Loki snorted. "I think _you_ might be a little stupid for thinking there was any chance of that," he said.

"I love you too," Thor said, grinning at him. "I want to see what you made me."

Loki squirmed as he watched Thor tear into the paper. His offering suddenly seemed very meager, though it had taken him four tries to get everything squared properly. Thor finished unwrapping the many layers of bubble wrap to find a small glass box in black and green and gold and blue.  
  
"I had just enough left over from making the suncatcher. If you put something soft in the bottom it'll work for a pen holder." He shrugged. "It's not anything special, like this," he said, looking again at the red notebook.

Thor moved the candle aside and crawled forward. "Yes, it is," he said.

"No, it's not," Loki said.

"If you're going to argue," Thor said, shaking his head and laughing, "I'm going to have to shut you up."

*****

"So now that your family knows, can we stop hiding?" Loki asked. He'd waited until Wednesday to ask, not wanting anything spoiling their special day, but now that they were back to regular life...

Thor looked across their desks to meet Loki's eyes. He had an idea that he _thought_ Loki would like. He hoped. He also hoped, desperately, that he had been correct in his interpretation of coach's pointed stares in his direction as he told the team to look nice for the awards banquet. "Let's just wait until after the awards," he said. "Then there won't be as much attention on me and we'll be able to maybe do it a little more quietly."

Loki turned his head away and thought a moment before he spoke. "Quietly," he said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "Look, I understand it's not really a _thing_ where you come from, but I don't see why you want to keep hiding. The dinner is Friday night. When we go to lunch Saturday, I want you to hold my hand."

Thor nodded. "Saturday lunch. I promise."

*****

Friday evening found both of them in their room, fidgeting uncomfortably in their suits. "I hate ties," Loki said, tugging at his collar.

"You don't have to wear one," Thor pointed out.

"No, if you're wearing one, I think I should too. But I'm going to be really happy to take it off after."

"Yeah, me too. We should go," Thor said, glancing at the clock.

Winter coats over suits were even more awkward than they were over normal clothes, and neither one could quite put his arms down by the time they were ready to go.  
  
The banquet was held in the faculty club, and they looked around curiously as they went in. "This is a lot nicer than the dining hall," Loki whispered.  
  
"We should start pretending to be new adjuncts, and try to eat here," Thor whispered back.

"Thor!" Coach boomed, coming towards them. "Let me get a look at you, son."

Thor slid out of his coat and stood awkwardly while coach gave him a once over and nodded. "You'll do. Your table is over there somewhere," he said, waving towards the left side of the room.

They wandered between the tables, saying hello to friends until they found their place cards and took their seats.

The food, too, was a lot nicer than the dining hall. The silverware was actually molded, for a start, rather than looking like it was punched out of a metal sheet, and the glasses were actual glass. The servers moved noiselessly, pouring water, making each course appear like magic in front of them, whisking away empty plates.

The soup was a velvety dark orange, rich with winter vegetables and brightened by a swirl of cold lemon cream. The salad that followed had bitter greens topped with pomegranate arils and hazelnuts. The main course was black lentils and cauliflower in pastry, earthy with cumin and hints of mushroom.

Thor ate everything. He didn't taste a bite.

Coach finally took the podium, his taps on the microphone nearly blasting out the speakers. After a few hurried adjustments, he began to speak. He started out with basically the same speech he gave every year (the team had been warned in advance, and told to pretend they were hearing something new and exciting) and then got into the awards. He started with the strongest newcomer award, the one Thor had gotten last year, before moving into positions.

Thor smiled and cheered, trying desperately to hide his distraction, as he watched friend after friend go up to receive his award and give a brief speech. As Thor remembered from last year, quarterback was the last position called. His stomach churned and his legs tensed as he prepared to hear his name called, all set to go give his well-planned words...

"Jamal Jenkins, Best Quarterback," said coach.

Thor schooled his face to hide his disappointment. It wasn't even the award that he cared about, and Jamal _was_ an excellent player, quick-thinking and powerful.  
  
But quick as a snap, his plans were dead. 


	18. ...and Joys, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more speech.

Thor tried to look suitably interested in the rest of the event even though his mind was a million miles away. It left him only barely aware of coach's next words.

"And now for our final award of the evening, and the one I personally am most proud to present. Our choice may come as a surprise, since this is generally given to a player in their final year, but the coaching team was unanimous in this decision. We are proud to honor a great player, and we are very happy to be working with him for two more years and see how much more he can grow. Ladies and Gentlemen, Lake State's Most Valuable Player, Thor Nordenfalk."

The room filled with applause and he was instantly blinded by camera flashes as he looked around, waiting for someone to say there had been a mistake.

"Come on up here, Thor," coach prompted into the microphone.

He stood, then, and walked to the podium in a daze.

"Um, wow," he began, still blinking at all the lights. "There are so many great players on the team, I never expected this. Especially not as a sophomore. First off, I want to thank Coach Jones and his staff for how much they have taught me, even when I complained about it," he said with a grin. "And I want to thank the whole team, too, because I am only one part of something much bigger. I want to thank my mom, for being such an amazing parent. And there's one more person I need to thank... someone who's always been there for me, someone who knows how to make me laugh better than anyone else. Someone who makes me happy whenever we're together. I need to thank my best friend, Loki." He was dimly aware of the confused murmurs that hummed through the air, but as his eyes peered through the glaring lights to meet Loki's, the rest of the room fell away. "I love you, baby."

Loki wasn't really aware of the last few words of the speech, when Thor made his polite ending. That was _not_ how he had expected this to happen, but now that it had, he couldn’t imagine anything better. And with all the camera flashes going off in his face, he couldn't see anything but bright spots, until suddenly Thor was there, sitting down next to him and taking his hand.

Loki turned to him, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. "Sentimental dork," he said. It might have been more convincing were he not grinning quite so broadly.  
  
Things managed to settle down as the coach gave his final words and dessert was served.

"Are you going to eat that, or what?" Thor asked, pointing at Loki's plate. He looked down at the table to see that Thor was nearly done with his own slice of cheesecake, while Loki's remained untouched.

"Oh. Yeah," he said, smiling again at Thor's look of mock-dismay.

Fortunately, the number of cameras didn't turn out to represent the number of reporters. The school had only allowed in three; one from the school paper, one from the small local paper, and one from the largest of the papers from the city. Even better, they seemed more focused on football than Thor's personal life, meaning Loki didn't have to do much besides sit quietly and try to look pleasant. That was a bit of work, in itself, since 'pleasant' was hardly his default expression, but it was better than getting interviewed.

"You know, if he goes pro, the focus is really going to be on you," the reporter from the large paper said quietly. "I'm not telling you what to do, but you should be aware."

Loki nodded. "Thank you," he said. Thor would say the man was trying to be helpful. It was possibly even true. Loki would say he was fishing for a story. So he didn't say that Thor wasn't going pro, or that Thor wanted to be a geologist, or anything else whatsoever.

When it finally ended, they walked back to their dorm, heavy coats awkward over their suit jackets.

When they got inside their room, Loki rather expected more than a brief peck on his lips, but that was what he got.

Thor hung his coat on the back of the door and tossed his suit jacket and tie across his desk and started to tear their room apart. Lamps, desks, chairs, sofa... all their carefully planned arrangement, gone. Loki watched, stunned, until Thor was perhaps halfway through.

"What are you doing?" he asked cautiously.

Three long strides and Thor stood facing him. And _that_ kiss was what Loki had expected. Even better, perhaps.

"I'm tired of this," he said fiercely. "Pretending. Tired of our options being floor or sofa or risking a concussion if we want to be in bed. I want to go to sleep listening to your heart and wake up holding your hand."

Loki blinked. "Okay," he said.

Thor kissed him again and went back to dragging furniture around.

There was a hesitant knock on the door, and Loki opened it to find a nervous-looking first year.

"Hey, ummm... I was wondering if maybe you guys could keep it down a little?"

Loki looked down at him. His height might make clothes shopping more difficult, but times like this it made life so much fun. "It's not even midnight, on a Friday night, in a _dorm_ ," he said. "So I'm going to tell you, with all due politeness, to fuck off."

He managed to keep a straight face as he watched his words sink in.

"He said it politely. What else do you want?" Thor asked, coming to stand behind him.

They watched as he nodded and turned back to the stairwell.

"You are such an asshole sometimes," Thor said.

"Oh, please. We're loud once a term. He can buy earplugs," Loki said. "And you agreed with me."

Thor laughed. "It's my job as a loyal partner to back you up. Come on, I need you to help me get your bed down."

Loki shrugged out of his jacket and took the foot of the bed, lowering it to the floor next to Thor's. It came down much more easily than it went up, but that wasn't really saying that much.

"I think whoever designed this was drunk," Loki said.

Thor nodded. "That little peg makes no sense at all," he agreed. "Hang on, let me get the straps."

Loki cocked an intrigued eyebrow, and Thor laughed. "To hold them together," he explained. "We can get more for other uses, though."

Thor knelt at the foot of the bed, his hands working quickly, before moving to the head and repeating his motions. The linked bed moved awkwardly, but the were able to shove it back into the corner.

"Our bed," Loki said softly.

Thor kissed him. "Let's get in."

"Mmm-mm. Go get some towels."

Thor looked at him quizzically.

Loki's voice grew dark with promise as he breathed into Thor's ear. "When I'm done with you, we are going to be swimming in a _lake_ of come and lube, so unless you want to be shampooing the mattress at six am - because that's how long it's going to take - go get some towels."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters today because while I'm happy to leave you hanging, I wouldn't leave you hanging on something sad. ;)


	19. Loki Borsson does *not* get mushy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shut up, he doesn't want to talk about it.
> 
> AKA treacly sweet porn to kick off a happy weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

  
  
Loki watched Thor go to the small bathroom cupboard to get their extra towels, his steps light and cheerful. One of the things he found most compelling about Thor was his ability to so completely experience emotions. When Thor felt something, he felt it _so_ fully and entirely that he had no room left in his heart for anything else. Some people seemed to view it as a lack of intelligence. Loki knew better, knew that it sprang from a richness of soul that those people couldn't begin to perceive. Loki envied it, too; he always seemed to have at least four things going on at once, himself. But tonight, in this pure and shining happiness, he thought he might have an idea how it felt to be Thor.

Loki looked solemn and thoughtful when Thor got back. "What?" he asked hesitantly.

Loki wrapped his arms around Thor's shoulders and nuzzled his face into his neck. "I want to make you happy," he said.

"You do, baby," Thor said gently, pulling him closer and knotting his fingers behind Loki's back. "I don't want you to ever think you don't. And I want to make you happy too, but sometimes I need you to tell me what you need."

It was true that he'd already planned his speech before Loki had told him how important it was to him that they go public, but that seemed like perhaps something better not mentioned just now. (If ever. He wouldn't lie if Loki asked, but... it would really be much more in both their interests if Loki's memory of this night was a recognition of how much Thor wanted to give him what he wanted.)

"I know. I'll try. Really," Loki said. "Right now, what I want is to make you as happy as you made me tonight." His hand slid down to the fly of Thor's suit trousers.

"Well, I'm not really going to argue," Thor stammered as Loki caressed him through the thick wool.

"Mmm, I was hoping you wouldn't," Loki whispered. His face was still pressed to Thor's throat, and the shift from speaking to kissing was almost imperceptible. His kisses grew heated as he reached for Thor's collar, fingers skimming quickly down the row of buttons to let his shirt fall open. He shoved it back off Thor's shoulders and let Thor shrug out of it as he tugged at the thin white undershirt beneath.

"I don't like your pants," Loki said, reaching for Thor's zipper.

"Oh. Umm," Thor started. He _really_ didn't want to bring his mom into the conversation right now, but, well, she was the one who had picked out the suit, and she usually had good taste.

But then Loki continued. "The better your clothes look on you, the more I hate them for getting in the way of seeing you naked," he complained.

Thor laughed, raising each foot in turn to step free. "Sorry. I'll start wearing ugly shit," he said.

"Don't you dare," Loki said, straightening.

When it was Thor's turn to undress Loki, his hands working rapidly over the slimly cut suit that hugged and flared _just so_ , he had to admit that maybe he had a point.

They sank onto the bed together, Loki pressing Thor onto his back. It turned out that the diagonal of the bed was long enough that Thor could stretch out luxuriously and there was still enough room for Loki to settle comfortably between his legs. He rested on his elbows with his face inches from Thor's cock, and gave himself a moment to enjoy the view. Thor's eyes met his, the skin around them crinkling in a smile. Their blue was soft, almost buttery, in the warm light of the desk lamp. His vibrant gold had barely faded with the winter, and his muscles rippled lightly as he tried to stay still and look more patient than he really was. His cock was firm and reddened, a few shiny drops already trickling from the tip.

Loki leaned forward and let his warm breath ghost across it. It bobbed gently, and Thor's _oh_ was quiet but quite gratifying, so Loki did it again. Light kisses followed, his lips smearing gleaming drops across the head until it shone. His tongue followed, teasing little licks interspersed with long broad stripes. It was slightly salty and slightly musky and utterly delightful.

Thor watched him through it all. He didn't think he'd ever get used to how he felt when he looked at Loki's face. He knew he didn't want to. Right now it was glorious, a swirl of bliss and peace and raw burning hunger. His lips were soft and promising and his tongue was hot and teasing and Thor groaned, wanting _more_ and not wanting this to end.

By the time Loki sank his lips down over the head, Thor's eyes were clenched shut and his breath was ragged. He slid up and down, a little more each time, until he reached the point where he'd learned it was best to stop. Thor's fingers twined gently into his hair as he wrapped his hand around the shaft, and the next time he slid down, he <sucked. Thor swore and his free hand scrambled at the sheets, though the one on Loki's head stayed soft.

Loki's mouth grew demanding, and Thor felt his climax rising up to meet it, balls slowly tightening and the heavy knot of tension nestled in his belly growing tight and urgent. He knew he was talking, but he didn't even know what he was saying. He thought he was begging, and Loki was giving him every thing that he asked, sucking harder and moving faster and harder and faster and _harder_ and then he was coming, vaguely aware of Loki pulling away just in time but his hand still going on Thor's shaft, drawing out his pleasure as Thor bucked and gasped and spilled thick jagged bolts of white.

When it ebbed, Thor reached for Loki. "Come here," he pleaded.

"Hmm-mmm. I'm not done with you yet. Roll over," Loki said.

"I do need some time to recover," Thor mumbled, but he did as Loki had requested.

Gentle fingers parted him and he jumped when he felt Loki kiss his entrance. "I really do need some time," he repeated, chuckling.

"I know. But doesn't this feel nice, all the same?" Loki asked, punctuating his question with a soft prod of his tongue.

"It does," Thor admitted. He was so accustomed to these sensations being tied to arousal that he had never noticed anything else; it was new - and lovely - to be able to feel the intimacy and affection they bore. Loki's gentle attentions melted into the afterglow of his climax like a touch of iridescence swirled into buttery-warm paint. _I must do this for him, as well. I want him to know this_ , he thought to himself.

Thor was sprawled limp and pliant and almost heartbreakingly beautiful. Even the muscles that usually fluttered here were relaxed. Loki's tongue slid in easily, and he licked just inside the silken passage until he felt Thor's breathing begin to race. He pointed his tongue and moved deeper.

His peaceful glow had given way to arousal so smoothly that Thor barely realized he'd grown hard until Loki began to go further in. Once he became aware of it, though, he also realized that his cock was smushed somewhat uncomfortably between his hip bone and the none-too-soft mattress.

"I need to move a little," Thor said reluctantly.

"Okay. Roll over again," Loki said. He jumped up and waded through the detritus of Thor's rearranging to get the lube. His tongue had made entrance easy, and Loki grinned at Thor's reaction when he was able to start with two fingers.

"I thought you might like that," he said.

He twisted and curled, making Thor give a stifled shout when he pressed up against the firm patch of nerves. They really were perfectly positioned, Loki thought; he liked how he could simply beckon to Thor's lust and have it obey. He felt so _alive_ inside, little muscles now beating against him like butterflies, and everywhere that luscious, searing heat.

Thor moaned as Loki added another finger, curling his hips in an effort to take it deeper. They slid in and out as one and then divided, twisting and scissoring, spreading and wiggling and setting every nerve alive with want. "More," he moaned.

He did get more, then, though not quite what he expected, as a wave of cold covered him. He gasped and looked down to find Loki squirting what seemed like the whole rest of the bottle over him, covering his cock and balls, and presumably Loki's hand.

"Sorry, lost my grip," Loki said sheepishly. "Yay towels?"

Thor nodded and let his head fall back. "Yay towels," he agreed.

And once Loki had both hands going, he didn't really notice the cold. Loki rose up to kneel between his thighs, the fingers of one hand buried within him and curling deliciously, his other hand on Thor's cock, twisting and pulling just how Thor liked. His hair was a mess, black curls everywhere, his swollen, reddened lips hung open and his eyes were glazed. Thor could just catch glimpses of Loki's own cock, long and smooth and flushed the same color as his lips. He was only vaguely aware that their bed was banging against the wall until there was a hesitant knock on their door.

"Fuck off!" Thor yelled.

Loki somehow managed to smirk through his haze of want. Thor would kiss him for it later, but right now he was so close, four of Loki's slender fingers gliding into him and his desperate cock being worked exquisitely... "harder," he gasped. "Please, harder."

Loki paused a moment before he did as Thor asked. The extra slickness made it easy to fuck harder than he usually felt confident doing with his hands, and on the third harsh shove Thor came, clenching hard around his fingers and throbbing in Loki's hand as his cock shot over them both. His face was intent, brow furrowed and lips parted with gasping moans. His stubble sparkled in the light as though he had been dusted with gold or glass. He was the image of pleasure, and Loki thought if he never saw anything but this again, he would be content. And when it faded into a quiet peace, he thought the same. 


	20. Reactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally get out of bed. People aren't shy about sharing their thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

  
They ended up spending the rest of the weekend in bed. Loki had been a little off on his original time estimate - it wasn't until nearly seven that they both passed out from exhaustion - and the rest of Saturday was spent sleeping and recovering. It meant they had a _ton_ of homework to do on Sunday, but even that was good; stretched out in bed together, with Loki's ankle casually draped over Thor's, it could hardly be any other way.

Monday came way too quickly. Loki woke up to the feel of Thor trying to slide out from under his arm.

"Nooo," Loki protested, tightening his hold.

"I've got class," Thor answered, laughing. "You do too, later. I'll see you this afternoon."

Loki grumbled, but he let go. He dropped off almost instantly. He slept through the gentle kiss Thor left on his forehead, but it made him smile, all the same.

*****

Loki's first class of the day was Symbolist and Surrealist art. Angela was in it, too. He'd been surprised to see her there, the first meeting; Mills had a reputation for being really tough, and while Angela looked much stronger than she had term, it was clear she still hadn't really recovered from the attack of meningitis. He'd told her as much, discretely replacing the fact that she looked tired with a vague claim about something Sif had said.

"It's the first time they've offered it, and I heard they're using it as a test, to see whether enough people would register to keep offering it. This department barely teaches anything about women artists, and Dr. Mills did her thesis on Remedios Varo. So I wanted to show that people do want to learn more than what they've been offering," she had explained.  
  
"Oh. I just thought it seemed like a cool thing to learn about," he'd admitted.

She'd grinned. "That's a good reason, too."

She was another reason for getting out of bed and attending class rather than staying in bed with Thor forever; he was the only person she knew in it, and he'd offered to share his notes when she wasn't able to get up. He would have felt like an asshole if he'd promised his notes and then stayed home getting laid instead.

She was there today, though, watching for him with her low, lingering smile that made her feel something of a kindred spirit.

"You're dating the _top_ football player," she said before he got a chance to say hello.

"Yeah," he said.

"You don't really strike me as the type to date football players."

He laughed. "Trust me, it came as a surprise."

*****

"Hi, Loki!"

Loki stifled a groan as Jane dropped her lunch tray on the table and took the seat next to him. He'd been reading while he ate. It was meant to be a hint, but it apparently wasn't clear enough.

"So I heard you and Thor are going out."

"Yes," he said, instantly suspicious.

"I think that's great," she said through a mouthful of potato chips. "You two are perfect for each other. And not just because of, you know," she added, gesturing at his face. "You seem like your personalities are really well suited."

"Oh. Thanks," he said. It was certainly _not_ what he'd expected from her. "Are those jalapeno?"

"Yeah. They only put out one bag, though, and they were gone in like five seconds. Here. We can share," she said, sliding her plate closer to him.

Maybe she wasn't a _complete_ tick.

*****

Thor got to his first class about a minute before it started. Just long enough for the guy in the next seat, someone he didn't even know, to lean over and whisper a question. "Is it true that you're dating that one weird guy?" he asked.

Thor looked at him, a little taken aback. "Um, Loki? Yeah, I am."

"Oh. Wow, dude." He leaned back, shaking his head in befuddlement.

Of course, halfway through class Thor came up with a much better answer. He was more than a little disappointed. Wasn't that just the way.

He got to use it in his next class, though. This was a discussion class, so he knew her name this time. "You're really dating that weird guy?" asked Heather.

"Mm- _hmm_ ," he answered, letting his voice go low and purring. "Do you want to know how weird he is? You should see what he did to me yesterday-" he said, reaching for the hem of his shirt.

"No! No, that's okay. I was just curious," she said, looking uncomfortable.

It was difficult to keep a straight face.

It didn't get any easier with practice.

"I never realized how much of a reputation you have," Thor said, throwing his bag on their floor and sitting down to unlace his boots.

"Huh?" Loki looked up from where he was stretched out, reading in bed. ( _Their_ bed, Thor thought again. It was still delightfully new, and he liked thinking it.)

"I had _five_ people ask me if I was dating 'that one weird guy.' You're famous."

"Oh. Yeah. What did you tell them?"

Thor demonstrated, and Loki collapsed in laughter. "I think I might be rubbing off on you," he said.

"That sounds pretty fun, actually," Thor said, settling down next to him.

*****

On Tuesday afternoon, Thor had Mantle Dynamics with Professor Jackson. The weekly student paper - the issue with the picture of Thor and Loki grinning stupidly at each other over their cheesecake - had just come out at lunchtime, and she was reading it. He tried desperately not to look self-conscious when she glanced up.

After class, as everyone packed up their stuff, she asked to see him a moment. He threw his backpack over one shoulder and made his way through the stream of people headed for the doors down to the podium.

"Hi," he said. He bit at the inside of his cheek while she looked at him. Her face was a mixture of sadness and pity and pride.

"I saw the story about you," she said, gesturing vaguely towards the paper, abandoned on the table. "Loki was in one of my classes last term. I liked him."  
  
"Thanks. Me too," he said, tinting faintly pink.

"I also wanted to tell you... much as we hope that people in the sciences will behave more rationally, I still have to deal with the fact that it's largely a white boy's club, with all that entails. You're going to have to deal with it being a straight boy's club. I won't understand exactly what it is you're facing, but if you need to talk, I'm here."

He nodded. That explained the look on her face. "Thanks, Professor. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Now get out of here, he's probably waiting for you for dinner."

He was. Loki pulled on his coat as Thor hovered in the doorway, not wanting to drip melting snow further inside.

"I'm going to ask Professor Jackson to be my advisor," he said.

"Yeah? She's cool," Loki said.

"Yeah. She is," Thor agreed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing a daily porn for February and today's post is lost in the indexing problems- if you want some bratty underage pwp in your life, may I present [Uncharted.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3270218)


	21. Someone New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They decide to have a reunion of select members of last years' floor. 
> 
> Steve asks to bring a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You knew I couldn't ignore them for a whole month, right? :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Turns out, the printers in the graphic arts studio are free," Loki said, tossing a stack of thick papers onto Thor's desk. "Grab some scissors."

"Just... a... sec," Thor mumbled as he finished typing a thought before he lost it. "Okay, what?"

Loki pointed. "Remember when I didn't want to use up my ink printing those? The printers in the graphic arts studio are free, so that students can see how their work looks on paper."

"You're not taking graphic arts," Thor pointed out.

"No, but someone left a door unlocked."

"Someone just happened to leave a door unlocked the same time you just happened to be there," Thor said.

"Yup. Something like that," Loki grinned. "But you're missing the point. We now have free cards against humanity."

Thor shook his head and reached for his scissors. "We should have a floor reunion," he said as he started cutting.

"Not everyone," Loki said quickly.

"No, not everyone. But Sif, Tony... I actually think Steve would be really good at this if he let himself get into it."

Loki looked suspicious, but agreed that it would be fun to see him.

"I'll email them," Thor offered.

He was surprised - pleased, but surprised - when Steve replied to the invitation to ask if he could bring someone. Not only had he never seen Steve on a date, he'd never even heard him mention an interest in anyone before. Whoever it was, they had to be special. He wrote back to say yes.

"Steve's bringing a date," he told Loki.

"Really? Who?" Loki asked, leaning over Thor's shoulder to look at his screen. "He just says 'a friend.'"

"He's so polite, though. I can see him bringing a friend to a big party, but something where he's one of three people on the invite list? It's a date."

"Yeah, but he's also really nice. He doesn't want his friend left alone on Friday night."

Thor hummed noncommittally.

*****

Sif was the first to arrive, dragging one of their desk chairs over to their new coffee table. "Nice, you scored a red one," she said with a whistle.

"Thanks. Thor got it last week," Loki said. They'd been watching for months to find a old red milk crate, rather than the dull blue ones that were phasing them out. (To be fair, Loki had been the one to swipe the tray that was glued on top, but it wasn't anything special. He was willing to admit that.)

"There's only a few people coming, there's plenty of space for you to sit somewhere more comfortable," Thor offered.

She shook her head. "That sofa of yours is hell on my spine."

Tony was next to arrive. Thor and Loki were sitting next to each other on the side of the bed when he walked in.

"Please, make yourself at home," Loki said as Tony picked up the rum from Loki's dresser to pour himself a sizable helping.

"Thanks, I will," Tony answered, bypassing the couch to sit next to Loki. He was perhaps an inch away from sitting when he froze. "It's not all wet, is it? Spooge?"

Loki snorted. "Of course not." They had conscientiously done laundry that very afternoon, even cramming Thor's thick comforter into its own washing machine though they always tried to be careful with it.

Tony settled down with a shrug. "Mine is," he said.

Sif's exaggerated gagging noise nearly drowned out Steve's knock.

"Come in!" Loki yelled, staring pointedly at Tony.

"Hi, everyone," Steve said as he opened the door. "This is my friend Bucky. Bucky, these are Sif, Thor, Loki, and Tony." He pointed around the room, left to right, as he named them.

"Hi," said Bucky.

They returned his greetings. Loki glanced over to see Thor grinning at them like an idiot, and he gave him a casual elbowing in his side. Steve and Bucky sat together on the sofa.

Maybe a little closer than they needed to be. Thor was _never_ going to let Loki live this down.

"Do you want something to drink?" Thor asked, standing.

"Sure. Jack and coke?" Steve asked.

"Same for me," Bucky said.

Thor nodded and started to pour them as attention turned to Bucky.

"So, Steve said you just started here?" Loki asked. He was curious - Bucky looked older than he had expected.

"Yeah. My thesis advisor got an offer here and I came with her. I'm only a few months away from finishing and I didn't want to start over," he explained.

"What are you studying?" Sif asked.

"Art therapy. It's really cool," he said.

"So did you meet in an art class?" Thor asked, handing them their cups. The red plastic matched the milk crate almost perfectly. It was the only reason Loki had agreed to buying them.

"Actually, remember me telling you about the R.A. I had my first year? That was Bucky," Steve said.

"Yeah, and now that I'm back, the only people still here that I know are my old floor," he said, tousling Steve's hair.

"Oh, cool," Thor said, sitting back down and beaming at them again. Loki elbowed him again.

"Has everyone played before?" Loki asked, picking up the white cards and starting to pass them out.

"Nope," said Steve in the middle of a bunch of nodding heads.

"We just take turns reading a black card and then everyone else gives them an answer from their white cards, and the best answer gets a point."

"Easy," Steve said.

"Until you have to say it out loud," Sif told him.

He picked up his hand. "Oh. I see," he said.

It took Loki several rounds before he got a handle on what type of answer Bucky liked. Everyone else, he'd already known from knowing them - Tony always gave the point to the foulest, most disgusting or lurid answer he received; Sif liked answers with sly, subtle humor; Steve generally preferred the more cheerful answers (Loki could _see_ it on his face when he drew the 'Puppies!' card); while Thor went for the silliest responses.

Without knowing Bucky, it was difficult to pick the best card, until it suddenly hit him - Bucky was picking whichever one sounded like it was probably Steve's answer.

Loki himself played like a chameleon - where most people chose to play the card they liked best as the answer, he put down whichever one he thought the questioner would have chosen. It didn't mean that he always won, but he was always near the top.

Sif counted up the tick marks by each person's name and told them the winner.

"Well, I'll be damned," said Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how widespread Cards Against Humanity is - [this](http://www.buzzfeed.com/katec31/8-well-played-hands-of-cards-against-humanity-ch4m#.www8EerJV) has some (relatively tame) examples, if you're interested.


	22. A Valentine Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor gets something he definitely did not expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Thor braced himself as he looked out the glass door. In good weather, the walk home from the gym felt short; on days like this, it felt like miles. He stiffened his spine and shoved it open. 

He didn't mind the cold too much, but the wind was biting and by the time he was halfway home his cheeks were burning from its harsh lashing, so he stopped in the art building to warm up. There was a small gallery that had rotating exhibits of student work, and he also liked to walk through the halls, peering in the open studios to see new things being created. 

In nearly the last room on the left, Thor saw a woman sitting at a table alone, leaning over a black and white photograph of an old building. Her head was tilted in thought. He stopped to watch, wondering what else there was to do once the picture had been printed. But then she twisted in her seat and he saw a small palette, covered in soft shades of purply-gray. He watched as she slowed added hints of shadows to the print, the purple subtly giving a warm duskiness. 

Loki would love it. And that meant Thor wanted it, because he was starting to worry about the fact that Valentine's Day was coming up and he never seemed able to think of a gift that wasn't connected to books. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he didn't want to get in a rut. Was it tacky to ask someone if you could buy something they did for class? He decided that maybe it wasn't too bad if he asked politely. 

He glanced at his phone. It was five-twenty seven, so he only had to linger here, trying not to look awkward, for a couple more minutes. He pretended to read the signs on the bulletin board - ads for off-campus study, summer internships at museums, grad school listings - until he heard the rustling of coats and bags. When the woman left the room, he was waiting. 

"Um, excuse me," he said. 

She did a double-take. "You're Thor Nordenfalk," she said. 

"Um, yeah. Hi. I really liked that thing you were working on, and-" 

"I'll trade you!" she gasped. "I'll give it to you for your autograph." 

Thor resisted the urge to back away slowly. He was nearly twice her size, and he didn't want to make her feel badly. No one had ever reacted to him like that before, though, and it felt more than a little strange. 

"My boyfriend is a _huge_ football fan, and I don't know what to get him for Valentine's Day," she explained. 

He relaxed. That was much better. But still, it was a lovely picture, hardly a fair trade for something that he handed in on homework and timecards on a near-daily basis. 

"I thought I'd ask to buy it from you..." he trailed off. 

"Oh. You don't do autographs?" she asked, her face falling. 

"I haven't, but I guess if that's what you really want, I can." 

"That's what I really want, trust me. It'll be dry if you can come back on Friday, we can trade then." 

"Sure, same time?" 

"Yeah, five-thirty." 

A sudden idea took him. "Okay. What's your boyfriend's name, anyway?" 

"It's Jason." 

"The common spelling? J-A-S-O-N?" 

"Yeah," she said, looking befuddled. 

"Okay, see you Friday," he said. 

Thor spent Thursday frantically running around campus between classes. 

Friday he went back to the art building. 

"Hi," he said when he saw her poke her head out. 

"Hey, come on in," she said, waving. 

"I realized I didn't even ask your name before," he said as he stepped into the studio. The hallway always had a mix of smells, oil paints and wet heavy clay and dusty powders. This room was more chemically, and he sneezed. 

"I'm Nari, and that's the fixer," she said. "The smell drifts in here from the darkroom. You get used to it." 

She showed him the print before wrapping it carefully in clean paper and handed it to him. He hadn't gotten to see it so closely before. It was a Victorian house that was starting to decay. The shot must have been taken near sunset, with long menacing shadows half-filling the frame. The subtle coloring enhanced the sense of eeriness. Not everyone's cup of tea for a Valentine, but it would be Loki's. 

"Thanks," he said, putting it in his backpack carefully between the two large books he'd brought to protect it. "And this is for you," he added, pulling out an oversized card. 

She opened it and her jaw fell. "This is..." she said. 

"There wasn't room for the second stringers," he said apologetically. "I got all the starting lineup, though." 

"Oh my God, this is amazing. My boyfriend is going to love it." 

"Same here," he grinned. 

***** 

They'd made plans to go to a restaurant on one of the lakes halfway to the city. Far enough to feel _away_ for an evening, close enough that they weren't wasting the night in the car. Loki had made the reservation months ago, to make sure they got a table that looked out over the water. It was frozen over, but the restaurant had put in some fountains, and they kept a clear spot in the ice. The normal white spotlights had been replaced with red for the occasion. 

The menu was prix fixe, but everything was heavenly. They devoured it all: baked pears and hazelnuts on grilled bread, bitter greens with blood orange sections, grilled portobello mushroom and smoked cheddar in puff pastry. 

While they waited for dessert - chocolate cheesecake with Guinness ice cream and raspberry sauce - they exchanged gifts. Loki opened his first. 

"It's my dream house!" he said, holding it up next to his face. "Can't you just see me on that porch, handing out halloween candy and scaring the children?" 

Thor laughed and nodded his head. "If any of them come close enough for you to have a chance," he said. 

"Go on. Open yours," Loki urged. 

Thor didn't have to be told twice; Loki had been carrying around the red envelope all day, looking like the cat who got the cream. He slid his finger under the flap and tore it open and pulled out the thin card inside. 

"You mean this?" he asked, looking up. "After last time..." 

Loki nodded. "I do." 

"But you were miserable." 

"Yeah, well, I'm not letting you pack for me this time. I'll have my allergy pills." 

Thor's face split into a grin. "We're going to have the best time, I promise." He looked down at the gift card in his hand. "When do you want to go?" 

"I figured we'd look at our syllabi and see what weekend would be the best." 

"Thanks for trying again. I can't _wait_ to share this with you." Thor reached across the table and took Loki's hand, and watched the reflection of the candle dance in his eyes. 


	23. Valentine's, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What got into Loki, that he's willing to try camping again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Loki leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He was _supposed_ to be working on a paper, but all he could think about was that Valentine's Day was sneaking up and he couldn't come up with a present. It had to be extra good, too, after the little book Thor had given him for their anniversary. That had been... a lot, though Thor seemed to think otherwise. Loki knew better, and he knew he had to do something just as amazing for Thor's Valentine. Thor wouldn't mind if he didn't. But Loki would. 

He cast his gaze around Thor's desk, his set of shelves, the things piled on top of his dresser. That was all stuff Thor liked. Maybe Loki could get something else like those things. 

Thor had some rocks on his desk. Maybe he'd like another rock. Loki looked at them to see if he could guess what made _these_ the special rocks. If he could figure that out, he could get another one like them. 

The main thing he noticed about them was that they were gray. That wasn't very helpful. 

He tried looking online for ideas. All the geology t-shirts he found were either stupid puns or boring. All the suggestions he found for football players were things that the school bought for the team. 

The idea hit that night, when he was brushing his teeth. The medicine cabinet was open, putting his allergy medicine on display. He was just starting to chuckle around his toothbrush, thinking of how Thor had to carry him back to the car, when he realized he had his answer. 

It was difficult to brush as meticulously as always when he just wanted to run to his computer, but he made himself continue to same slow pattern he always followed. He was rather proud of his teeth, and was determined that they stay perfect. (Thor had commented, more than once, on how beautifully white they were despite all the coffee he drank. The whitening strips that were buried in the back of Loki's sock drawer played a large part in that, but there was really no need for that harmless little secret to be discussed.) 

Loki had forgotten the name of the park, but a quick scan around a map for the right part of the state turned it up. Blazing Hills State Park. 

Was he really going to do this, though? People died camping, all the time. Nature, Loki was quite sure, was firmly out to get him. His last experience camping had only confirmed that. 

He spent another two days trying to find a way out of it. Another idea, just as good. But there was none. 

_Fuck._ He was going to go camping. 

***** 

The store didn't have a single Valentine card that didn't make Loki feel like puking all over the display. He finally settled on one that was at least blandly disgusting rather than actively revolting, because he really wanted the red envelope. He also got a small box of plain white cards, the cotton paper thick and rich and slightly nubbly between his fingers. 

Back in their room, Loki cleared a spot on his desk to write and sat down with his new calligraphy pen to test it out. It didn't take long to get the hang of it, and he grabbed a card. 

_Let's go back to Blazing Hills_ he wrote. 

The look on Thor's face when he opened it the next night made him think that it might actually be worth it. 

***** 

Loki floated into bleary half-awakeness to find Thor curled up behind him, his hand clamped around Loki's waist and his hips stuttering against him. He peeled one eye open to look at the clock. Four-thirty two, it blinked. He let it fall shut. 

"Well, that's one way to wake me up," he mumbled. "Thor?" he added when he didn't get a reply. 

Thor still didn't answer. He just kept rubbing himself on Loki, his cock leaking a ticklish trickle down Loki's back. He was making soft animal grunts, different from how he usually sounded... 

"Hey, wake up," Loki said, reaching back to shake his arm. 

"Mmmmm? Wha- _oh,_ " Thor said, waking. He shoved himself back and away. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't know I did that in my sleep." 

"S'okay," Loki told him. "It just seemed creepy for me to be awake while you were asleep. C'mere." 

"No, it's okay. You go back to sleep, we'll do it in the morning." 

"Silly." Loki's groggy hand hunting around the half-open drawer until he found a bottle of lube. He tilted his top leg up and slicked between his thighs. 

There was just enough light creeping in around the curtains for Thor to see that _something_ was going on under the blankets, and then Loki was pressing back against him and reaching for his cock, pulling it between his legs, and clamping down. 

It felt a little odd, cooler and looser than he was used to, but he must have been close before Loki woke him, because his body was already going while his mind was working things out. He wrapped his arm around Loki's waist and buried himself in Loki's hair and let himself be lost. 

Loki realized suddenly that he had never been an observer to Thor's pleasure before. Even when Thor masturbated for him, he was always aware of his own cock stiffening in response, of his own breath starting to race as the air was perfumed with soft musk. But now, still too close to sleep to get caught up in it, he was able to give his full attention. 

Thor's breath was hot against his neck, and even though he was trying to be quiet he couldn't keep Loki's name from pouring through his lips. Each time Thor thrust forward, the thick head pressing through the resistance of tightly squeezed thighs, his fingers would clasp a little harder. Just slightly, so gently Loki wouldn't have noticed were he not focused so completely. The rippling muscles that pressed against his back slowly tensed as Thor's speed increased. 

Even after all they had done together, this was strangely intimate, for Thor to share himself so fully. He couldn't help wondering sometimes why Thor had chosen _him_ , of all people. He so often made people uncomfortable somehow, but Thor had always accepted him for who he was, without question. It was still difficult to trust, at times. But this... this was more personal than talking, more personal than fucking. It was hard to doubt Thor's feelings when he was exposing himself so completely. 

Their lovemaking was slow and peaceful. When Thor came it was with a quiet questioning _hah?_ against Loki's neck. 

Loki rested his hand over Thor's. "Yes," he whispered. 


	24. ...and part three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin and Frigga have a weekend away. He brings along some wedding planners' portfolios.
> 
> It's terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

"I suppose it's time to start wedding planning," Odin said to Frigga when they got back to their hotel from their leisurely dinner. They had agreed to spend the weekend after the holiday in Greenrock; they'd just gotten back from their trip a few weeks before, and Frigga was still catching up at work. He offered to do the whole drive rather than meeting halfway, worried about her worn tires on the snow. She refused, saying she would rather they have more time together. He offered her new tires. Those she accepted. 

He had brought the portfolios of several wedding planners, not knowing quite what she would want and feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. When he and Farbauti had married, his business was stabilizing, but nothing of the sort that would cover an extravagant wedding, and neither of them had wanted to ask her parents. Instead, they had simply gone to the justice of the peace, followed by an evening with friends at a bar owned by Nal's cousin. She had seemed happy with that, and he was grateful. 

It meant, though, that he had no real clue what to do now. It didn't help than, when he opened the first portfolio, Frigga burst into laughter, and didn't stop until she had tears streaming from her eyes. "Can you honestly picture me wearing that corsage?" she gasped. 

He looked at the photo. When the planner had talked about the design, it had all sounded so good. He had used lots of French words like _elan_ and _panache_ and _je ne sais quoi_ and it really had sounded good at the time. But now, looking at it more frankly, he had to admit it: the thing was ridiculous. They flipped through the rest of the books, not finding anything that much appealed to either one of them. 

"So what _do_ you want?" Odin asked. He was beginning to get a little worried at how determinedly Frigga had rejected the idea of all these weddings. 

"Odin," she said, laughing. She pulled him in for a kiss before she continued. "You have a beautiful back yard, and the weather doesn't get any better than early June. Let's have a garden party and get married in the middle of it. We'll plant flowers instead of cutting them, and just... share a good day with the people we love." 

He blinked his eye at her. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot," he agreed. 

"Then it's settled. We might as well still plan early, to make sure things like rental chairs and caterers don't get all booked before we get to them, but I don't think we need to get stressed about things, either." 

Odin relaxed back in his chair. "I think I'm going to like being married to you," he said. 

***** 

Frigga told Thor about the plan after she got home. "So if you have any special requests, get them in soon," she said. 

He thought about it. _A good day with the people we love._ Family and celebration and happiness. His mind jumped back to the Fourth of July. He had stayed home from the fireworks to have some personal Thor-Loki time. The fireworks were in the park downtown, and food trucks came from all around. It was the only time of year Thor could find rocket pops, and they had become part of the celebration. He remembered sitting on his father's shoulders, Laufey's strong hands holding on to his legs while he licked happily at his treat, his mother standing beside them and laughing as the fireflies began to come out. 

"Would Odin mind if we had rocket pops?" he asked, feeling a little embarrassed. 

Frigga's own memories of them were nearly as perfect. Her sweet little boy, purple-stained mouth giving her sloppy kisses on her cheek before he was old enough to learn _men don't do that._ When he did learn, she let it go, though it broke her heart. It was how men had to be, where they lived. But she knew what it meant when he kept asking for them through awkward adolescence and into the wonderful young man on the other end of the line. 

"If he were the sort of man to object to rocket pops at his wedding, I wouldn't be marrying him," she answered. 

Loki had been watching Thor, listening to his side of the conversation with his head cocked in curiosity. He had no clue why popsicles made Thor's eyes go misty, but he could ask later. He slid his creaky wooden desk chair back as quietly as he could and walked around their desks to plant a kiss on the crown of Thor's head. He rested his hand on Thor's shoulder, and moments later Thor's own warmer one came to rest on it. 

***** 

When Odin called Loki to see if he had any requests, Loki already knew what to expect, and he'd had time to contemplate. 

"Thor said Frigga makes the best magic cookie bars ever," he said. "Is it tacky to ask her to cook stuff for her own reception?" 

Odin chuckled. "Probably not, as long as you promise to do the dishes." 

"I'll do the dishes if they're as good as Thor says. If not I'll wait until you leave for your honeymoon and then get Thor to do them." 

From the times they'd visited each other's homes, it was becoming clear that Frigga was going to do most of the cooking, and Odin would do most of the cleaning up. Cooking took more time out of the day, but it was something she enjoyed doing, so the division felt fair. Except weekend breakfasts. Odin had already begun to dream of cooking the most magnificent breakfasts and bringing them to her, steaming hot, just as she woke up. The thought of Frigga, bleary-eyed and messy-haired and happily eating his waffles, made him feel a little bit as though his heart had turned to jelly. 

***** 

"All we asked for were sweets," Thor mused that night in bed. He was on his back and Loki was curled up against him, his head on Thor's shoulder and his arm across Thor's broad chest. 

"Mmm. My dad loves salty stuff. We're probably covered there," Loki mumbled. He had found himself falling asleep much earlier these past few weeks. It didn't exactly fit with his self-image as someone who can go all night (at what? - _whatever_ ) but Thor was so warm and cozy, and Loki figured he'd get used to it eventually and be able to stay awake more than five minutes after snuggling up. But for now, it was awfully nice.


	25. Faith, Confidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planning for spring and summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wushu is the martial art that TH said he studied for Loki's fighting style. 
> 
> Enjoy!

They sat at their desks, alternately looking through the spring course listings and making faces at each other around their monitors. 

"No ideas?" Thor asked. 

Loki sighed. "Too many. But some are early, and some are new profs I don't know anything about, and I think I'm going to take Wushu with Natasha to start getting my PE requirement done but that's as far as I've gotten." 

Thor nodded. If it were up to him Loki would take something with less - as in _no_ \- hitting. Something like ballroom dancing. He could see that. He let him mind run away with him as he imagined Loki's trim figure whirling about the floor, lithe and elegant. A beautiful woman would be in his arms, just as lithe and elegant as he was. His hand would curl around her supple waist. He'd dip her as the strings began to swell, just like in an old romantic movie, or perhaps he would send her spinning away and then pull her spinning back until she came to an abrupt stop, pressed up tight against him, their lips parted as their breathing sped up from well-concealed exertion... 

It would be beautiful. Loki always danced beautifully. 

"What's that look on your face?" Loki asked, suspicious. 

"Not just my face," Thor said, standing. 

"Oh. No. I see," Loki said. "You like thinking about me doing Wushu?" 

"I don't actually know what that looks like." 

"Oh. Come here." 

Thor circled their desks and stood behind Loki, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and running his hands down his chest as he pulled up a video on Youtube. _Holy fuck_ , Thor thought. He could be strong and deal with a few bruises if it meant Loki learned to do _this._ Anyway, it was only fair. Loki had barely ever gotten to see Thor's body unmarked by various shades of purple or sickly green. 

"Never mind the ballroom dancing," Thor murmured, leaning down to catch an earlobe between his teeth and suckling on it. 

"Ballroom dancing? I didn't know that was an option," Loki said, somewhat brokenly, as he tilted his head to give Thor better access. 

"It isn't. You are going to look so hot doing that, baby." 

Thor nibbled his way down Loki's throat until he reached his pulse, licking at the frantic beating as Loki fidgeted in his seat. 

"Let's pick our classes later," Thor whispered, his breath hot against Loki's wet skin. 

Loki whimpered in agreement. 

***** 

When Loki got home from class the next day, Thor was sitting on the side of the bed, staring blankly at the wall. 

"Hey, you okay?" Loki asked. 

Thor nodded. "I think so," he said slowly. "Professor Jackson just told me about an internship at the USGS that is so perfect I can't believe it's real. Not that I have any reason to think I'd get it. Actually, I don't think I would. They must have a ton of applicants. Especially with me being a sophomore. But... she said she thinks I should try for it." 

"Oh. Wow. Um, what's USGS?" Loki asked. 

"US geological survey. If I did it, it wouldn't guarantee a spot at a top grad school, but it would help a ton." 

A federal internship. That meant DC. Almost a three-day's drive away. All his plans for their summer, living together, all their time outside of their jobs actually _free_ to spend on each other, rather than homework - and nearly a month in the house without their parents - they would all be shattered if Thor got this. But behind the shaken uncertainty writ large on his face... oh, his eyes burned with hope. 

Loki sat down next to him and wove his fingers with Thor's. "I'll miss you, but I hope you get it," he said quietly. He meant it, too, even though he didn't like it. And his eyes were _not_ getting blurry. 

"DC?" Thor said. "It's at the field office in Cumberland." 

Cumberland. That was forty-five minutes from Beuley, in bad traffic. Forty-five wonderful, doable minutes. 

See? Loki's eyes weren't blurry at all. 


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sensible early bedtime, utterly ruined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant this chapter to be their camping trip, and look what they've done. Just look what these adorable hornpuppies have gone and done.

Loki had tried to pretend it wasn't happening, but it was. He was following Thor through the supermarket as they shopped for camping food. Thor marched them up and down the aisles, grumbling about the sticky wheel and heaping promise after promise on Loki about how perfect this trip is going to be. Every time he added something to the cart, he'd tell Loki what he was going to make with it. Dutch oven deep dish pizza. Baked bananas. Apple pancakes and sausage and eggs and fresh squeezed orange juice. Quesadillas, barbeque chicken, carrots roasted with ginger. 

By the time they got to the checkout line, Loki was fairly sure there wouldn't be time for anything besides cooking, eating, and dishes. 

Thor apparently thought otherwise. The whole drive back to the dorm, he regaled Loki with descriptions of all the things they might see while hiking. Deer and birds and squirrels. Waterfalls. Caves and bats and salamanders and blind fish and quite a few other things Loki had already heard all about, but he let Thor talk. 

When they got back to their room and started cramming everything into their small fridge, Thor finally got to what Loki wanted to hear. 

"...and we'll drag a big thick throw rug in front of the fire, and I'll lay you down and spend hours making you wish you could stay there forever." 

"Mmmm? And how are you going to do that?" Loki asked. He was with Thor right up to the _wish to stay forever_ part of it. The fire and the rug sounded nice, but he really was attached to central heating for more long-term use. He said as much to Thor, who laughed. 

"Oh, I think central heating will be the last thing on your mind," he said. His arms slipped around Loki's waist and pulled him close, Loki's back pressed to Thor's firm chest. Thor's breath tickled over his ear as he began to tell of what, exactly, he planned to be doing with his tongue in a mere day from now. Loki couldn't help shivering as he broke out in goosebumps at Thor's words. "See? The dorm's heated, and you're still cold. You need something else entirely to heat your blood," he whispered. "Don't you?" 

Loki's mouth went dry as he nodded. _Well, that was eloquent,_ he scolded himself, but he couldn't find his words. Thor seemed to have stolen them. He wasn't used to Thor going into this much detail, but he certainly wasn't going to complain. 

Thor gathered Loki's hair loosely in one hand and licked a slow, burning stripe up the back of his neck. "I'm going to go to sleep now. I have to get up early to pack before class," he said. His words were hot against the wetness on Loki's skin and they were very definitely not what Loki wanted to hear. He tried to grind his hips back, to feel if Thor was erect, but he was already moving away, laughing. 

"You do this to me all the time," he said. 

"I do not," Loki protested. 

"How about lunch today? The way you were eating your ice cream? I don't know how you didn't get arrested." 

Loki shrugged. "Okay. One time." 

"And yesterday? When you were doing your stretches in those pants that sit really low and a shirt that you 'accidentally' shrank in the wash?" 

"I find it motivating to dress like that when I'm stretching." 

"Yeah, and you know exactly what I find it." 

"So, twice." 

"And on Tuesday-" 

"Okay, okay. I just like keeping you interested." 

"You really don't need to..." Thor began. His voice dropped to a rich growl as he continued. "...but I love that you want to. Now be a good boy and put on your jammies." 

"What do I get for being a good boy?" 

"The eternal satisfaction of knowing that it's what you are." Thor actually slapped Loki's ass as he walked away. It was playful, not hard, but still. Principles. 

It was perhaps five minutes after they had climbed into bed and kissed a chaste goodnight that Thor realized his strategic error. When Loki teased him, it was when Thor couldn't react - in the dining hall, maybe, or right when Thor had to run out the door or risk being late for class. Loki had no such restraints on his behavior. 

He had lain still just long enough for Thor to think that maybe he'd gotten away with it. Then he rolled onto his back and let his mind drift through all those delirious promises Thor had made. He could feel his heartbeat responding, and, more importantly, his breath. He knew that through the quiet dark, Thor could hear it too. 

He imagined Thor's tongue tracing all over him, following each broad artery and each delicate vein as far as he could see them through Loki's translucent skin. His whole body would come alive, every inch lighting up like Christmas as it was gently licked. Thor had said he would save Loki's cock for the very last, leave it yearning and aching against his stomach until there was nowhere else untouched by his tongue. And _then,_ only then, would he run a broad stripe up the thick vein that would be throbbing with each surge of his pulse. _You won't be able to last long, not once I do that,_ Thor had said, and Loki already knew it was true. 

His hand slid down the flat of his stomach. The cloth of his sleeping pants made a soft sound as he reached within. 

"What you are doing?" Thor asked. His voice was taut. 

"I'm being a good - _hah_ \- a very good boy," Loki answered as he finally let his fingers settle onto his cock. 

"Jerking off in your pyjamas?" 

"Taking care of something my boyfriend started and didn't finish. Isn't that nice of me?" 

Thor groaned. It was only when his head dropped back onto the pillow that he even realized he had lifted it. And Loki was making quite the show of it, too. His usual near-silence had been replaced by moans and gasps and whimpers, and maddening as they were, they weren't even the worst of it. No, harder still was the fact that it was Thor's name he kept moaning and gasping. The bed shook with his motions as he began to speed up, and the noise of cloth on cloth sped up, and Thor couldn't help himself, he knew that in the long run he might regret giving in to such blatant manipulation but he reached over and in, his larger hand wrapping around Loki's. 

Loki gave a sharp inhale as one of Thor's fingers brushed across the sensitive head, smearing the fluid that beaded at the tip, and he felt Thor react to the sound. He drew his own hand away, letting Thor take over, tightening his grasp and stroking. Loki wrapped his own hand around Thor's wrist, wanting to feel the intensity that thrummed beneath his skin. 

Thor sped up so fluidly that Loki was scarcely aware of it happening until Thor was going as fast as he could, his hand a blur of motion beneath Loki's fingers and Loki was arching up, thrusting into it, his free hand over his mouth to muffle the cries that had at some point become completely genuine, and then Thor began to talk to him, telling him how beautiful he felt, how perfect he sounded, telling him to come, to come for him... 

Loki came with a ragged moan and a stuttering jerk of his hips as Thor worked him through it, the darkness of the room falling away into a blinding white as he shook and shook and spilled. 

When he collapsed back, sated, Thor kept his hand in place, holding his soft pants out of the way while Loki reached blearily for one of the cloths they kept near the bed and then reached down to clean himself. 

At last he curled onto his side and yawned. "Thank you, baby. That's much better," he said. 

Perhaps three minutes passed. There was a noise. 

"Now what are _you_ doing?" Loki asked. 

"Taking care of something my boyfriend started," Thor told him. 

"Oh, I thought you had to get up early to pack." Loki's voice was dripping with innocence, but even as he spoke, his hands were sliding between their heated sheets. 


	27. Burning Hills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good food, good sex, good fluff. Maybe this whole thing isn't so bad. Of course, they haven't gone hiking yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Thor was not lying when he said he had to get up early to pack, partly because 'pack' seemed to be a euphemism for 'do basically everything.' The alarm went off at five and he rose and dressed quickly before sneaking out to the kitchen with all their food and letting Loki fall back asleep. 

Loki woke up again at seven as Thor returned toting a prodigious amount of foil-wrapped bundles. "Food's all set," he said quietly as he set about fitting it all back into the fridge. He'd put off showering as long as he could, because their pipes were so loud, but he could hear the squeaking of the faucet from the floor above and decided it would be all right to get in himself. Loki moaned and pulled a pillow over his head. 

Thor was a little groggy from getting up so early, and the hot water was relaxing enough that he didn't mind the noisy plumbing too much. He stood under the stream for a long time, simply feeling happy. He couldn't think of anything better than to share something he loved with some _one_ he loved. He finally forced himself out, knowing he had to get through the day - which was suddenly looking very long - before they could hit the road. He toweled off roughly and let himself air dry as he packed up his bathroom things and left the toiletry bag on the counter for Loki to add his stuff. He set the bottle of allergy medicine right in the middle, its purple top sticking out so it couldn't be missed. 

Loki mumbled something nonsensical about rabbits when he came out of the bathroom, and he laughed gently. "I know," he agreed. 

" 'Kay," Loki answered before falling back asleep. 

Maybe they would see rabbits. 

When Loki woke up again, Thor had left for class. His large backpack stood near the door, his clothes already folded neatly inside. Loki put on some music and showered with the bathroom door open to give their room a little humidity. He added his own things to the bag, double-checking that his pills were already included. Good. 

Loki got a text during lunch - Thor hadn't been able to find anyone to take his shift at the gym, so could Loki load the car and come get him when he got off? There should be room in the backpack for the food, and they just needed that and a small bag with driving snacks. 

_Okay,_ Loki replied. He could take enough clothes out to make room for the food, he guessed. It was either clothes or hair products and he was not leaving those behind, he didn't care how much they were roughing it. 

Thor was waiting for him when he pulled up next to the gym, a huge grin on his face. It had warmed up enough that he only needed his favorite red hoodie. It was a little too tight on his arms, which made it Loki's favorite too. 

Traffic was light for a Friday. Minor groping and music and oreos made the time fly by, and it seemed not long at all before they were going from smooth flat fields into rolling hills. The low soft lines of ancient mountains broke the skyline, covered in the radiant gold-green of newly budding trees. 

The entrance to the park was perhaps ten minutes into the forest, marked by a big brown sign with blocky yellow writing that welcomed them to Blazing Hills State Park. Thor gave a quiet sigh of contentment as they passed it. They had to go slowly now, not knowing when there'd be an animal around the next bend of the winding road. It was brisk out, but Thor lowered his window just enough to hear the birds singing their evening song as dusk began to fall, purpling the sky beyond the canopy. 

They didn't see any deer, but there were quite a few squirrels, including a little black one, which Loki had never seen before. 

"Are you serious? Baby, you need to get outside more. We have them in the woods next to campus," Thor told him, chuckling. 

Loki hummed noncommittally, making Thor laugh harder. 

They finally reached the parking area, and Loki unloaded the car while Thor went to the ranger station for their keys. He was back quickly, throwing the heavy back over his shoulder as Loki picked up the small snacks bag. They were in a cabin in the same row as their last trip. Loki was glad; despite the hour-long hike to get there, it meant he knew exactly how to find a particular rock that he had liked (liked very, very much) on their previous visit. 

It was dark by the time they reached the cabin, and Loki held up his phone to light the lock as Thor let them in. 

"You did bring a flashlight, right?" he asked. 

"Yeah, it's just buried in here somewhere," Thor said, letting the heavy bag fall to the floor. "Can you build the fire while I get this stuff sorted out?" 

Loki looked at the fireplace suspiciously. "I've seen it in movies," he said. He sounded very doubtful. 

"Paper, kindling, wood," Thor said as he headed to the kitchen. 

By the time Thor was back, Loki was sitting happily in front of a fire that wasn't yet roaring, but was on its way. 

"You look very pleased with yourself," Thor said. 

Loki smiled up at him. "I'm just thinking about all those people who say little teenage crimes never develop into life skills. If only they could see me now." 

Thor sighed, burying his face in his hands. "When is the statute of limitations up on that, again?" he asked. 

"Five more years," Loki said cheerfully. "And it's not like anyone got hurt. And it was scheduled for demolition anyway. I just changed the timeframe a little." 

"Ugh," Thor said, settling down next to him. 

"It's no big deal," Loki said, pulling Thor down to rest with his head in his lap. He twirled a blond lock between his fingers as he watched the flames grow. "You made me promises about what would happen right here," he pointed out. 

"I did. Do you want to wait, or keep getting interrupted?" Thor asked. 

"I'll wait, I guess." 

"All right. Your choice." 

It was nice, being here together, Loki watching the fire and Thor watching Loki. Even the crisp air felt good, the way it was broken by gusts of heat as the flames tossed and danced. Finally Thor got up. 

"That's ready for pizza," he said. He was quickly back from the kitchen and sticking the dutch oven into the heart of the fire. He made a second trip, returning with a bottle of wine and a tub of blueberries. Despite their earliness, they were delicious. They ate them all, passing the bottle back and forth and pressing berries into each other's mouths and kissing and tasting how they mingled on each other's lips. 

The pizza disappeared quickly, once it was cool enough to eat; the light, puffy crust was perfectly crisped at the edge, and the sauce was rich and savory. The baked apples that followed were soft and sweet and made the perfect segue from eating back into kissing. 

Thor produced a clean sheet, seemingly out of nowhere, and spread it out across the thick rug. Loki sprawled across it, purring contentedly as Thor undressed them both. His hands were lazy, moving slowly as he tugged at shirts and unbuttoned jeans and lowered zippers. 

The warm glow of the fire made Thor even more impossibly golden, flickering across the swells of sculpted muscles and peeking into the shadows between. His hair shone like it had been spun of light and his smile was as warm as the heat that crackled towards them. 

He looked at Loki for the space of a few heartbeats, drinking in the sight of him. Then he lowered his head and did everything he promised. 

"Tell me you love me," Loki said, when Thor's mouth had finally, finally taken him in. 

Thor raised his head, slipping free. "I love you," he said. 

Loki shivered at the low intensity in his voice. "I love you, too." 

Thor waited, wondering if there was to be more conversation. After a moment's silence, he continued, lips tightening as he slid back down. He looked up to find Loki's face still somehow expectant. His long slender fingers were clenching at the sheet beneath him. Thor reached for it and tangled their fingers together, and watched Loki's face soften. 

They held hands through all the rest of it, Thor licking and sucking and Loki gasping and arching, and all the time, Loki's fingers were so expressive against his own. He could feel Loki's climax approaching, just as much as he could taste it and feel it, and it was glorious. When he came, Thor could feel each wave of pleasure pass through his fingers as easily as he could feel it beating against the back of his throat. 

When Loki moved Thor to his back and hovered over him, repeating every delicious gesture, he took Thor's hand, too.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor worked really hard at making the trip enjoyable. Loki worked really hard at... well, mostly at suggesting they go, but he was nice about it.
> 
> Some things deserve rewards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm cold-medicine-spacey, and while I caught some rather painful typos (if 'the completely wrong word' can be called that) there's probably more in here. Sorry. Feel free to point them out, or not, I'll do another proofread later but I wanted to get this posted and not leave you hanging.
> 
> Enjoy!

Dawn's rosy fingers crept in under a veil of birdsong. Thor woke first, and he lay quietly, listening and watching the bit of sky that peered in past the curtains. It had gone through pink to yellow and was brightening into pale blue when Loki began to stir. 

"Mmf. Hi," he mumbled when he saw Thor was already awake. 

"Hi, sleepyhead," Thor said, tousling his messy hair. 

Loki stuck his tongue out at him. Thor, more alert, leaned over and grabbed it between his teeth. 

Loki tried to complain, but without the use of his tongue it was rather difficult. Thor laughed and let go. 

"Get up, lazy, we've got a busy day," he said. It was harder to get up than he was letting on - the bed was much more comfortable than the one in the dorm, and the air was more than a little brisk. "I'll get the fire going for breakfast." 

They had smores pancakes because Thor was not one to mess with a winner, and a quick reshuffle of food and clothes in the backpack and they were ready to go. 

Thor had a whole set of trail maps, with the most appealing trails highlighted and color-coded based on estimated time and level of difficulty. "What do you think you're up for?" he asked, shuffling through them. 

Loki shrugged. "Anything. We came all this way, no point in doing it half assed." 

Thor grinned. He knew just where to go. 

***** 

The steep hills wouldn't have been half so difficult if they weren't also muddy. It slowed them down and made their steps noisy, so there were far fewer animals to see than they had hoped. Everywhere around them, though, there were birds, and they didn't seem to mind Thor and Loki's presence. They stopped to watch a purple-headed finch doing a stiff, hopping little mating dance until the brown female, unimpressed, flew off. Chickadees made their rapid-fire calls while songbirds warbled among the branches. 

Thor was happy. Richly, quietly happy as they walked along enjoying the music, listening to the scuffle of little rodents in the leaf litter that lay hidden beneath the underbrush. The area was full of winding streams that babbled and danced down the algae-slick rocks, spurning into the tiniest of rapids before calming and running on their way. A fine mist hung in the air, brought on by the density of the plants around them, and even after coming here many times it still bore a trace of unreality. 

It really was like something out of a dream, Loki would have had to agree, if Thor were to break their quiet to ask what he thought. He understood why he hadn't asked, though. It wasn't a place for talking. 

It took them two hours to reach their first destination ( _What is it?_ Loki kept asking. _It's awesome,_ Thor kept answering), and when they did, the timing could not have been more perfect. They were nearing the top of a rise, it was clear from the sunlight that broke through ahead. When they were perhaps twenty steps away from the peak, a harsh scream broke the air and every bird in the entire forest seemed to silence. 

Thor grabbed Loki's hand and dragged him forwards, urging him faster. They found themselves suddenly on the edge of a rocky crag, looking out over a vast expanse of trees. They covered the rolling hills with dazzling color, the sun gleaming off bright buds while the darker pines seemed almost to absorb the light, and over it all hung a soft gray mist softening it into something almost unreal. 

"There!" Thor pointed up towards the sun. Loki shielded his eyes with his hand, but it still took a minute to adjust before his eyes fixed where Thor was pointing. 

"What is it?" 

"Some kind of hawk," Thor said, squinting. "I can't see it well enough to be sure, but it sounded like a red-tailed." 

"That's so cool," Loki said. He kept his eyes on it, watching it glide effortlessly along the air currents. It looked like freedom, in ways those who cling to earth could never know. 

Thor looked at him. His lips were parted, ever so slightly, and curled into a hint of a smile. Even though the air was cool, it was humid, and with the difficulty of the hike, his skin had sheen of sweat, just enough to make it glow. He looked enraptured. It was beautiful. Thor know he had only come to make Thor happy, and while his very willingness was enough to accomplish its goal, seeing Loki begin to share his own feelings for this place... he rested his hand on the small of Loki's back. It got him a smile, but those eyes, green as these trees would be come summer, did not break their gaze. 

Thor finally spoke. "We should keep things moving, if we want to see some caves and waterfalls today. Do you want to have lunch here?" 

"Okay." 

With such a view before them, the staggering drop and ethereal mist and mist-curled hair and exercise-pinked cheeks, it was only fit to enjoy a slow, leisurely meal. Small bites washed down by delicate sips of water, and then the panorama distracting them for a moment before eating more. 

And that's exactly what they would have done, had they not just spent three hours hauling themselves up a steep and slippery mudslide. As it was, they barely came up for air until all the sandwiches were gone. 

"Is that all?" Thor asked as Loki peered into the bag. 

"There's some snacks, we should probably save those a while, though." 

Thor hummed in agreement. "You want to keep going?" 

No, not really. Loki liked the view and he liked sitting down but dinner was at the end of this so he nodded and gave Thor a quick kiss before looking around. "Which way?" 

Thor pointed and grinned. 

Loki took one look down the path that hugged the rock face and closed his eyes. "You first. If I fall and break my neck, I'm taking you with me." 

"I love you too," Thor said, starting down. 

They were halfway to the bottom when a terrible thought hit. "Tell me this isn't how we go back," Loki said. 

"Okay, if that's what you want. This isn't how we go back." 

"No, say it and mean it." 

Thor laughed. "We really don't. I'll show you the map when we get to the bottom." 

"Yes, do," Loki said, a trifle faintly. 

From the bottom of the rocky face (where Loki had, indeed, checked to see that Thor's highlighted path took them for a loop, and that he had planned it so that they were going in the - slightly - easier direction), it was only about fifteen minutes of level, easy walking to the waterfall. They began hearing it when they were still five minutes away, a cacophony thundering through the trees. The trail was wider here, and they could walk holding hands. 

They rounded a bend and it was suddenly there, crashing down into the pool beneath and sending spray up in a constant shower. Loki slipped his arm around Thor's waist and relaxed against his side. They watched it for a few minutes before Thor pointed. "The cave is just that way a little." 

Loki nodded and straightened, and they continued on. The cave was low and deep and dry save for the stream that trickled in and disappeared. "Can we go in?" Loki asked. 

"We can, but it smells awful. Bats." 

Loki looked up and once he adjusted to the low light, he saw the shine of small eyes glaring back at him. "They look annoyed," he said. 

"Well, we did wake them up," Thor said. 

"Mmm. I wish we could see them better. I bet they're cute." 

"Yeah. There's some pictures in the book, back in the cabin." 

The trail continued on past more falls, smaller than the first but some of them breathtaking. They finally reached another cave, this one deeper and with a few lights hanging in it. 

"No bats?" Loki asked. 

"Nope. They don't like this one." 

"Why?" 

Thor shrugged. "Don't know. They're just set in their ways, I guess." 

Near the back was a small spiral staircase, and they went down. When Loki turned the last curve into the lower chamber, he gasped. Where the upper room had been nothing but plain gray stone with a low ceiling, this was a huge open chamber, filled with glittering stalactites and stout stalagmites. A bridge crossed over the pool that shimmered off to their left. 

"Go look," Thor said. 

They went closer, out onto the bridge, and knelt to look down. Tiny shapes darted through the water, pale and sleek. 

"Are those the blind fish?" 

"Yup." 

"That's so cool." 

Now that they were stilled, they could hear the faint trickle of water that fed the pool. Loki looked at Thor. He had worked hard to make this trip as good as it could be, knowing that Loki was only here to make him happy. Loki leaned over and kissed him, gently at first. When Thor's lips parted, Loki started to slide his fingers into his hair, found it nearly dripping with sweat, and discreetly lowered his hand to Thor's neck. That was sweaty too, but sweaty skin was something more familiar. He pulled him closer, deepening it, and feeling Thor's breathing begin to pick up. 

"How private is this place?" Loki asked. 

"Not really private enough." 

"Oh. Just this then, for now." 

Thor was right. Though they hadn't seen anyone else out on the longer trail they had hiked, not five minutes passed before they heard footfalls on the clangy metal stairs. They broke apart and stood quickly, trying desperately to look nonchalant by the time the other people arrived in the chamber. 

It was another young couple, trying and failing just as desperately. They smiled hello to each other and Thor and Loki left them to it. 

The trail went uphill after that, but gently enough that it was barely more work than walking on flat ground, and half an hour later, out of the blue, they were at the back of the row of cabins. 

"That's it?" Loki said. 

Thor laughed. "We did hike for seven hours," he pointed out. 

"Oh." 

"Come on, let's go wash up and start dinner. I'm starving." 

They left their muddy shoes on the narrow porch and went inside, shoving their muddy clothes into a trash bag brought along for the purpose. 

"There is a shower, but it's cold..." Thor started. 

"Yeah. It is really gross if we heat water over the fire and just wash in that?" 

" _I_ don't think so. I thought you might." 

Loki sighed. "It is kind of gross, but I think it'll have to do." 

They washed quickly, as soon as it was warm enough. "Shame. I think I like you dirty," Thor teased. 

"I can still be dirty." 

"Now?" 

Loki gave him wide, innocent eyes. "I'm starving," he said. 

"All right. You go enjoy the hammock, I'll put dinner on." 

"Come sit with me?" 

Thor looked torn. "I don't like leaving the fire." 

"It's still warm enough outside. Leave the door open." 

Loki was just getting himself situated when Thor joined him. As long as they stretched their necks, they could keep an eye on the fireplace. It was more than a little awkward to have a second person climb in, and by the time they were settled both were laughing at each other. 

"I thought you were going to be a drill sergeant all weekend," Loki teased. 

Thor shifted slightly, wrapping his arm more comfortably around Loki's shoulders. "I do like tough hikes and seeing things. But it's also good to just _be_ here." 

"Yeah. I like that." 

It was growing dark by dinner time, and the cabin felt snug and cozy as they ate in front of the fire. 

It was dark by the time they were done. 

"Let's go for a walk," Loki said. 

Based on last year, Thor had a pretty good idea what that meant. "Okay," he said. Loki had melted chocolate smeared on his lower lip. Thor licked it clean. 

"Now," Loki said. 

"As soon as I bank the fire." 

They hurried back to the same outcropping that they had enjoyed before, the beam of the flashlight dancing along the trail ahead of them. The air had grown chilly with sunset, but they were both still warm enough from the exercise that it felt pleasantly brisk. Definitely not too cold for what they planned on. The sky had a few high wispy clouds that caught the glow of the half moon. Closer to the horizon, a thousand stars twinkled, the light dancing as it passed through the thick atmosphere. 

Loki's arms wound around Thor's hips as they kissed, and then he was walking slowly, steering Thor back until he was half-sitting on a low, smooth rock. 

"My turn this time," Loki breathed. "I want you to know just how much fun I had last year, before I got sick." 

"Mmm, please," Thor answered. Loki's hands were swift as they unbuckled Thor's belt and opened his jeans. He smiled to find Thor's cock already erect when his hand slid down the front of his boxers. He ran a light fingertip in circles around the head, making a single pass along the slit before letting go and running both palms up Thor's taut stomach. Thor groaned softly, making Loki give a quiet laugh. 

"You like that, do you?" 

"Always." Thor leaned forward, muscles ripping lusciously under Loki's hands, and claimed his mouth. 

Loki reached further up, rubbing his palms in little circles over Thor's nipples until they began to tighten in response before pinching them, feeling them grow taut. 

"You like that too," he said. "You're going to love all of this, every second. Take this off," he said, tugging at Thor's shirt. 

The second it was off, his lips brushed across the rough bristle on Thor's jaw as they trailed back to fix on his earlobe, nibbling and sucking at it and feeling Thor's chest heaving with his roughening breath. Thor shifted slightly to lick at Loki's throat, his tongue batting at the rapid pulse. He had one hand braced against the rock, and the other reached between them to curl around the firm length trapped in Loki's jeans. Even through the heavy denim, he could feel its heat. 

Loki's breath caught as Thor began stroking him through his clothes. Thor had looked like a nature god today, completely at home in the wilderness. Even with all the mud, it had been very, very good, and with him doing this now... if Thor wanted this slow, he should not have started touching Loki like this, not yet. He didn't, it turned out. 

"I want this," he murmured against Loki's throat. 

"Turn around," Loki told him. He did, shoving his jeans and boxers out of the way as he heard Loki getting into the backpack and the lube popping open. 

A cool hand pressed between his shoulder blades, pushing him down until he was half sprawled across the rock. The surface of it had taken on the evening's chill, but the day's warmth soon glowed through from beneath. 

He glanced back when rather than feeling the expected touching and opening of himself, he heard Loki's jeans opening. 

Loki caught his eye. "You'll get what you want, greedy," he teased. "I'm just getting ready. Once I have you all set, you won't want to wait for this, will you?" 

Thor shook his head no and Loki pressed him back down and he felt a surge of want at the gesture. It was at once firm and gentle and it said _this is what is going to happen and you are going to like it._ When Loki began to stretch him into readiness it was with that same patient inevitability. It sent a shiver down his spine, right down to where Loki was easing in a second finger and twisting them until Thor's knees felt weak. 

By the time Thor felt Loki's cock against his entrance, the rock was supporting his entire weight, his arms were stretched out as far as they could, fingers scrambling for something, _something_ to hold on to, to keep him grounded, and he was dripping sweat. "Yes, Loki, fuck, I need it-" he panted. 

"Ah-ah-ah, manners," Loki chided. His voice was a good deal rougher and shakier than he meant, but it was good enough to have Thor gasping _please, pleasepleaseplease_ so he gave Thor's ass an affectionate slap, told him how fucking hot he sounded when he begged, and thrust in. 

He buried himself balls-deep and stilled, bracing himself with one arm as he struggled to get his breathing under control. He knew exactly how he wanted this to go, and it wouldn't work if he got too caught up in the feel of Thor's passage clenching and coaxing. 

"Remember last year, what you did to me? If you want it, you're going to have to work for it," he said, easing back until only the head remained inside that grasping tightness. It took a massive force of will to hold still, but it was worth it as he watched the moonlight shining on Thor's back, illuminating the tensing muscles as he fought his limp body for control, til he at last had his weight back on his feet. 

Loki moved one step back, ready for the force that he knew would hit when Thor at last shoved himself back. Even knowing what it would be, it was still stunning to experience it. He held onto Thor's hips to stay upright, gasping at the feel of being so suddenly enveloped. 

He hadn't really intended to make Thor do this for so long - he could see the sheen of sweat that covered his skin, he could hear the roughness of his breathing - but it was difficult to let go of it, once started. But at last he patted Thor's back affectionately. "You relax. I'll finish," he said. 

Thor collapsed with a groan, murmuring a broken thanks. Loki rose to the balls of his feet, straining for a better angle to finish. He leaned over Thor, wrapping one hand around a broad wrist and holding on, the other braced against the rock at Thor's hip. And then... he let himself go. He fucked hard and fast, the way Thor only wanted it when he was close, and oh, was he close. Loki could feel his whole body shaking with want, the tension that hummed through him with each stroke in. His forehead was pressed to the stone, so Loki couldn't see his face, but the noises that were coming out of him were feral, growling and moaning and begging and swearing all blurring together and he was squeezing tight, so tight, trying to make it even better, trying to make Loki bring him off. 

Thor narrowly suppressed a shout when the hand holding his wrist reached around him, taking hold of his cock and stroking at the same pace that he was being filled. A softer cry was impossible to avoid, though, impossible not to react to long cool fingers and a heated palm taking hold of him and then they fell away as everything shattered, the opal moon and silver stars all he could see though he was facing away, and he could vaguely feel that his whole body was jerking, seizing and stuttering as he came. 

The feel and the sound of it all were too much to resist, and Loki fell after Thor, falling together to fly among the stars as his hips froze, his cock buried at its deepest, spilling as far within as he could. When he finally came back into himself, he draped his body across Thor's, his come-smeared hand holding gently onto one thigh. 

They lay together like that, simply enjoying the closeness, until the air began to feel uncomfortably cold. They stood and fixed their clothes and walked slowly back to the cabin, clasped hands swinging easily between them. 

"I think I'm ready for more dessert," Thor said, rebuilding the fire. 

"Me too." 

They devoured the bananas, laughing at the chocolate it left on their faces and lazily licking it off. 

It wasn't until the moment their heads hit the pillows that they realized how fully, completely exhausted they were. 


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something waiting in the mail, back at school. They have to limp back to the car first, though. Well, Loki does. Thor doesn't need to do that sort of thing because he's a fucking nature god or something and could probably climb the Himalayas without feeling it in the morning. If Loki didn't love him, he'd probably hate him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I love it when I can make their inconveniently shared pronouns work for me instead of against me for once. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The next morning dawned even earlier than the last. Loki woke up to discover that what he thought were sore feet were in fact blistered feet. 

"I can carry you to the car again," Thor offered. "Maybe the whole way. I can lift more than I could last year." 

"No, it's okay. Can you carry the bag though?" Loki answered. 

Thor smiled at him. "I was going to anyway. You didn't have to mess your feet up for that." 

Loki rolled his eyes and demanded breakfast in bed. 

The ground had dried up overnight, making the path quiet after the mud that had sucked at their feet before. It meant that the animals they scared away yesterday stayed near the trail as they made their way back to the car. Mostly squirrels, which was no surprise, though they did get to see another black one really close up. It was smaller than the gray ones, and seemed particularly bold. They did get to see a deer, on the far side of a clearing. She was heavily pregnant, and paused in her grazing to watch them coolly. as soon as they moved on, she lowered her head to eat. A red fox darted through the parking lot as they loaded the car. Loki gasped. "Did you see that?" he asked. 

"You do know we have them at school too, right?" Thor asked. His grin was only half teasing, though. Whatever Loki liked about this trip, Thor wasn't going to complain. 

The drive back was uneventful, livened mostly by stops for coffee and cheetos and those little powdered donuts that taste like chemicals but are somehow irresistible all the same. 

Loki stopped at a red curb while Thor ran in the student union to pick up their mail. His steps were quick and light up the stairs and Loki heaved a contented sigh as he watched him go. When he came back out, he was completely different. His grin was replaced by a tight twist of his lips, and his footfalls were heavy. 

"What's wrong?" Loki asked as he opened the passenger door. 

"I got the letter about that internship," Thor said hollowly. 

Loki's heart sank, all the happiness of the weekend gone in a flash. "Fuck, I'm sorry. There's always next year, though," he said, reaching over to take Thor's hand. 

'I didn't open it. I don't have to, I already know." 

'You do not. Can I open it if you're not going to?" 

"Let's go back first. I want to be in bed when you give me the bad news." 

"Hey now. You're starting to sound like me. That's my job," Loki said. He gave Thor's hand a squeeze before putting the car in gear. 

Getting to the room was something of a blur, but Thor somehow found himself in bed. Loki sat on the side, holding the envelope. 

"Okay?" he asked. 

Thor nodded. Loki tore it open and slid out the letter. He read it over quickly. He wasn't sure of the best way to say it, so he decided to say nothing. To let his smile say everything. 

"I got it?" Thor said. 

Loki's smile broadened. "You got it," he said. 

He found himself pulled into a tight hug before he even realized Thor had sat up. "I can't believe it," Thor said. 

"Well, I can. I read the letter. Here. Look." 

Thor's eyes ran quickly down the page, barely even looking at the _We are pleased to inform you_ because it was the minutia - the _first day is June 8_ and _closed-toe shoes only_ \- that made it real. 

"When does spring term end?" he asked. 

"Hang on." Loki got up and dug his planner out of the mess on his desk. "Finals end June fifth. We have to be out of the dorms on the sixth." 

"Oh. Wow. Umm... will you have room in your car for me to go with you?" 

"No, Thor. You'll have to take a cab all the way to Beuley. Of course I'll have room for you." 

Thor burst into laughter. Loki regarded him a little curiously. He thought it was mildly amusing, but not nearly this level of funny. Thor pulled him down and wrapped him into a bear hug. "I actually got it," he said, still laughing. 

"Of course you did." Loki reached up to fix his hair and grimaced. "When you're done squeezing the stuffing out of me, I need a shower." 

"Take a bath with me," Thor said, squeezing harder. 

"I haven't showered since Friday. I'm disgusting." 

"You're not disgusting, you're a camper!" 

Not for the first time, Thor's ticklishness came in handy. 

"Sorry, sorry! I take it back!" Thor at last managed to wheeze. 

"Okay," Loki said, relenting. "But I _am_ showering." 

"How about a quick shower to wash off, and then a cozy bath? It'll make your feet feel better." It was Thor's somewhat dismal attempt at batting his eyelashes, as much as his words, that convinced Loki. 

"Mmm, it would." 

The hot water - _actually_ hot, thank God - felt amazing pouring down, carrying away soap and dust and little bits of plant that seemed to be taking over their hair. 

The tub got a thorough rinse before they closed the drain and got settled. They had discovered that as long as Thor sat straight up with his legs out, Loki could sort of coil himself onto his lap. It was much nicer once Thor put a piece of duct tape over the overflow drain; it let them fill the tub enough to keep their lower halves (except for Loki's knees, which stuck up like white sand islands) under the soothing water. 

Loki hummed happily as he leaned into Thor's chest and snuggled against him. Thor's cock was pressed against his back, thicker but not stiff, and his hands glided lazily over Loki's skin. It was pleasant to be like this, half-aroused, enough to enjoy without urgency. He shifted just enough to bring his lips to Thor's. Light, easy kisses, just right for a warm, lazy bath. 

"I'm proud of you," he said. 

"You, too," he said. 


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's that time of year. Sophomore year, to be precise. Even when you know what you want to do, sometimes it's still nervewracking to go do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

"Bye, babe," Thor said, pulling on his jacket. "Babe?" 

Loki looked up from his book. "Huh?" 

Thor smiled fondly. "I said bye. I have an appointment with Professor Jackson to ask her to be my advisor." 

"If she said yes to the appointment, doesn't that basically mean she said yes to being your advisor too?" 

"Yup. That's why I'm not nervous." 

"Well, have fun. You filing after that?" 

"Yeah. Next time you see me, I'll officially be a geology major." 

Loki stretched up to meet Thor as he bent down for a kiss. "Show-off." 

"You really have to do it, you know." 

"I know," Loki sighed. "It just means talking to people and asking them for things." 

"You ask me for things all the time." 

"Sex." 

"Sex, and breakfast, and coffee, and 'oh, Thor, would you preheat the shower for me'-" 

"Only cause you get the temperature just right. But okay. I'll do it." 

"Cool." 

The door clicked shut behind him and Loki set down his book, glaring at his computer before getting up to look at the English department's list of office hours. 

***** 

Thor knocked on the half-open door. "Dr. Jackson? Hi. I'm a little early, I can wait-" 

She looked up at him, a warm smile on her face. "Hi, Thor. Come on in, I just have to finish up this email. Please have a seat." 

The guest chair was at an angle to her desk, rather than facing her, and he couldn't decide if it felt comfortably informal or uncomfortably unfamiliar. He tried to take his coat off slowly enough that it would fill the quiet seconds until she was done, while also trying not to look like he was being slower than usual. 

She finally gave her mouse a satisfying click and turned to him. "Now, then. What can I do for you?" she asked. 

"Um, well, you know I'm declaring geology. And I was wondering if you'd be my advisor? I know you already have a lot of students," he said, hoping she couldn't see his fingers twisting in his lap. 

She laughed. "I thought we'd already covered that bit," she said, shaking her head. "It would be my pleasure. And since we still have twenty-eight minutes of our appointment, how about we discuss your course plans for next year?" 

Fortunately, he'd come prepared. He pulled a stack of printouts from his backpack. "Well, for fall term, I was thinking..." 

***** 

Loki stopped inside the door of the English building to look at the office listing. He'd had Dr. Smythe for two classes, but had never been to his office hours before. He wasn't entirely sure if Smythe would take him - he tended to be very opinionated about what he had read, and didn't hesitate to challenge any of his professors (respectfully, but still). He took a deep breath and started up the worn limestone steps. 

The office was on the third floor, tucked under the eaves. Loki's feet were still a little sore from the blisters, and he found himself wishing that the old building had gotten an elevator at some point in its history. There were voices coming from the room, Smythe's low gravitas-laden rumble alternating with something high and breathy. He leaned against the wall, willing himself to stay rather than slipping off, back to the dorm. Maybe to the bathroom to throw up some of the butterflies that seemed to have taken over his stomach. It wasn't easy. 

Finally the door opened, and Veronica came out. They'd been in a couple classes together, and they were on a nodding acquaintance. They would never be friends - her voice was far too annoying for that - but once he'd gotten past the sound of it, he'd realized that she had good things to say in class, so he wasn't rude either. 

"Go on in, he's in a good mood," she whispered, giving him the 'he's been drinking' gesture. Smythe was old and tenured and he got to do that sort of thing. 

Loki slipped in before the door could swing shut. "Hi," he said nervously. "Do you have a minute?" 

"Loki, my boy, sit, sit!" Smythe said. His face was pink and his words the faintest bit slurred but he _still_ managed to seem dignified. It had to be the accent, Loki decided as he perched on the edge of the narrow wooden chair. It creaked as he set his weight down, and he flinched. 

"Oh, don't mind that. It always threatens to kill my students, and it never does." 

Loki smiled faintly. 

"So what brings you to my lair?" he asked, rubbing his hands together. 

That didn't help. But he couldn't just sit here not talking, either. "I know I've only had a couple of classes with you, and I argue a lot, but... I really liked them, and I was wondering if maybe you'd be my advisor?" 

"Oh, that. Of course. Do you have your slip?" Smythe asked, looking Loki over as though he might have it pinned to his shirt. 

"Are you sure? I mean, I always argue with you..." 

"But that's the fun part of teaching! You don't think I do it for this, do you?" Smythe asked, waving his hand dangerously near a tall stack of essays covered in red ink. "It's having students who have put enough thought into the readings that they are _able_ to argue about them, and like to. Now why don't you just pop down to the office and fetch us some coffees, and we'll talk about your plans." 

Loki nodded and rose in something of a daze. The office manager looked up brightly as he walked in. "I'm supposed to get two coffees? Professor Smythe sent me." 

"New advisee? Congratulations. The coffeemaker is just in there," she said, pointing to a side room. "He likes a good splash of cream, and leave some room for whiskey or he'll send you back." 

"I haven't really talked to him outside of class before," Loki said. 

She smiled sympathetically. "He's one of the most dedicated teachers I've ever met, but he can be a little overwhelming." 

"Like getting hit by a tornado," he murmured. 

"Very much." 

It didn't help that when Loki got back, Dr. Smythe was somehow flipping through three course catalogs at once. "Ah, excellent," he said as Loki returned. He set the books aside and reached for his whiskey. "Care for a nip while we work?" 

Loki wasn't entirely sure what the right answer was. "Just a taste?" he asked. 

"Something to keep the draft off," Smythe nodded as he poured. 

***** 

"I have an advisor," Loki said as he walked in. 

Thor glanced up. "Shit, you look like you got hit by a tornado," he said. "And you smell like whiskey," he added as Loki slumped next to him. 

"Uh-huh," Loki agreed weakly. 

"But you like them?" 

Loki grinned. "Oh, yes." 


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the coffee shop results in big decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I've added a bigotry tag. It's not nearly as bad as it could be, but it is in there.

"Guess who got off early?" Thor yelled as he walked in. 

Loki looked up at him. "You got off without me?" he asked. 

Thor grinned and pinched his ass. "I meant _work_ , and you know it," he said. 

"Maybe. How'd you get off?" 

"Well, first I like to get in the mood - the right music, maybe a little stretching to relax-" That was as far as he got before Loki started tickling him mercilessly. "Okay, okay! They're setting up for a special event so the gym closed early." 

"That's cool. I was about to go to Alchemy, I need some coffee with more sugar than we currently own. You want to come?" 

"Sure. Studying, or hanging out?" 

"Some of both, probably." 

***** 

Thor was first in the door, so he was first to see Steve and Bucky sitting together at a small table near the back. They looked up as he approached. "Hi, guys," he said. 

Bucky gave him an open grin. "Hi man, good to see you." He nodded to Loki. "Hi." 

Steve smiled politely. "Hello," he said. 

"Hi," Loki said. "We needed sugar." 

"They're out of chocolate syrup," Bucky told him mournfully. He looked so suddenly and completely dejected that Loki might have laughed if he hadn't wanted a mocha quite so badly. 

"Fuck. Do they still have caramel?" 

Bucky nodded, holding up his cup. 

"Bucky's trying to keep me distracted while I wait to hear back on my grad school applications. Though I'm not sure caffeine was the best way to do that," Steve told them, casting Bucky a quick smile as he spoke. 

Neither Thor nor Loki missed the look. "Well, we better get something and start studying," Thor said. 

"Yeah, good luck," Loki added. 

Steve's smile at them was wan. "Thanks. See you." 

They walked back along the line of customers, peering between them to check out the treat cases. 

Thor looked at Loki. "Do you think they're..." 

"Oh, yeah." 

"Me too." 

They ordered drinks and cookies - at least there were still chocolate chip cookies - and took one of the worn sofas. 

"We should probably look like we're studying some," Thor pointed out. "We're right where Steve can see us." 

"He probably doesn't care, but yeah. I have a lot of reading to do, anyway." 

They were near the door, which kept opening and sending gusts of cold air across their backs, and Loki kept scooting closer to Thor until they were practically splatted together. It got them more than a few looks from the high-school aged townies who suddenly flooded the cafe, stares ranging from curious to disgusted. 

Thor saw Loki's eyes narrow in response to one particularly unpleasant stare. "You want to make out?" he suggested quietly. 

"No, but he's short. You should stand up and stretch," Loki whispered. 

Thor chuckled and stood. They watched the staring kid's eyes widen as Thor rose from the low couch and kept going... and going... and going, up to his full height. He was nearly a foot taller (not to mention twice as wide) as the kids who watched. "You want another cookie, baby?" he asked Loki, his voice louder than it really needed to be. 

"No thanks, baby. You're all the sweetness I need," Loki said. 

Thor smiled and stretched, twisting as he did so, making sure that everyone in the café could see his arms flex. 

Disgusted Stare paled and got his coffee to go. 

Curious Stare stayed for perhaps half an hour after Thor had returned to his seat and picked up his textbook. When she did leave, it was with a flutter of paper into Thor's lap. _Thank you,_ it said. 

"He must bully her. It feels good to see them get taken down," Loki said quietly. 

Thor smiled at him. He knew that when Loki was younger, people had been less than kind. He'd never asked for details, though, figuring Loki would volunteer what he wanted. "Good," he said. "So do you really not want another cookie? They just brought out a fresh batch of toffee ones. Or am I all the sweetness you need?" 

"Of course I want another," Loki said, rolling his eyes. 

They studied until it was time to go back for dinner. Dessert was in their room, with all the sweetness they could imagine. 

***** 

Uncharacteristically, it was Thor who had trouble sleeping that night. Loki was draped halfway over him, twitching occasionally as he dreamt. He felt warm and cozy and he tried desperately to tell himself that it was just the coffee keeping him awake. At length (at _three_ , to be specific), he gave up trying to lie. 

That thing with the high school kids earlier in the day... he had encountered worse, on a near-daily basis, for years. It had always seemed too big a thing to fight, before, especially when it wasn't aimed at any particular person. But now, well. He wasn't just a kid anymore, not to the people back home. He was on TV every week for months, scoring touchdown after touchdown. Making them proud. He had heard the whispers and seen the smiles every time he went into Ashton. 

He had become someone who might be able to make things better. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't try. 

With that decided, he buried his face in Loki's hair and fell asleep. 

***** 

It wasn't until he woke up that it hit him what it meant: telling Loki. Loki had been floating various spring break ideas for months now. Most had been far too impractical to be anything more than fantasy, though it was fun to talk about sneaking through Mexico to visit Cuba, or going clubbing in Tokyo. It was clear, though, that Loki had assumed they'd spend the break together, and Thor had said nothing to indicate otherwise. 

Loki peeled open one eye to stare at him. "What's wrong?" he mumbled. 

"What? I didn't-" 

" _Thor._ This is me. I can feel you worrying." He scooted closer. "Tell me." 

"I was thinking about those kids at the coffee shop yesterday. That girl. And I think..." he sighed. "I think I have to go home for spring break. As incredibly weird as this is, I'm kind of a hero there, and if..." 

Loki rolled to his side and curled his arm around Thor's waist. "You're going to tell them their hero is gay." 

Thor nodded. "Are you mad? I know you were planning things." 

"I'm not mad. I'm disappointed, but it's not like it's our last spring break. And I think it's good. Do you want me to come with you? Just if you want. For support." 

"I'd like that, but I don't know how Bragi will take it, and since we share a room..." 

"Okay. You should start with your friend, the one we went out for ice cream with. The girl." 

"Lisa?" 

"Yeah, her. I think she'll be okay, and I want you to have somebody there." Not really. Loki didn't want Thor to have anybody but Loki, but he _did_ want Thor to not be alone for it. He also knew that wasn't the sort of thing you're supposed to say even when it's true. 

Thor smiled. "Thanks." 

Loki hummed lazily and nuzzled his face into Thor's chest. "Tell me how you'll make it up to me." 

Thor could feel Loki already starting to relax back into sleep. "We'll fly to Bangkok," he said, "first class, so we can stretch our legs." 

"Will we stay there?" Loki mumbled. 

"No, we're just going to fly there. We'll go to one of the islands. We'll have a little house right on the beach. There will be white sand and blue water and palm trees and when we kiss it will taste like spice and coconut." 

"I sunburn," Loki said, barely enunciating any more. 

"Then we'll sleep all day and spend the night on the beach. The water will be all lit up with those glowing plankton, every time a wave breaks it will light up all green just like your eyes." 

The only reply was Loki's soft, even breath. Thor closed his eyes and followed him into rest. 


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring Break begins. Loki was right about Lisa. Some others find out too...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy! I hope to have the next chapter a bit sooner, I had stupid writer's block for a few days but it seems to be easing. :) Also I'm kind of drunk so please point out the typos that I'm sure I've missed.

Frigga was pleased when Thor told her he planned to visit for spring break. "I'm glad you'll get to see your friends here before the move," she said. "It also means I'm not stuck boxing up all your things."

She could hear the ill-disguised panic in his voice when he answered. As though she didn't know perfectly well what was in the bottom of his sock drawer. She didn't snoop, but when the kid wouldn't put away his own laundry for weeks on end, and she'd even _told_ him it was getting done that day by one or the other of them... "Yeah, I'd hate for you to get stuck with that," he said.

"Can you ride partway with Loki? I'll meet you where our roads split."

"Sure. I'll let you know what time we're leaving."

*****

Break was really late that year, but it still came faster than either of them were ready for. "I'll miss you," Loki said as they lay in bed, delaying the inevitable.

"I'll miss you too," Thor said. He was curled up sideways on the bed with his head on Loki's chest. He idly twirled a black curl between his fingers. "But I have to do this."

"Yeah, if you back out now, your mom will find your porn," Loki said, chuckling.

"Hey, you don't want your dad finding yours," Thor pointed out.

"Hell, no."

"See?"

Loki humphed.

"Come on, we better get up, get this over with."

"You don't have to, you know. It's ok to change you mind."

"I know, but I'm not going to. So you- " Thor said sitting up and tugging on Loki's arm, "-have to get up too. I need a ride."

They'd lazed through breakfast, and ended up having coffee and nachos from the gas station where they fueled up before hitting the freeway. They were awful, but not really any worse than the dining hall.

Loki was quiet as he drove. To say he was disappointed had been an understatement; he'd been so looking forward to having a whole week together without any of their usual stress and busyness. Thor didn't have much more to say. He stared out the window, chewing on his lip and trying to figure out how to do what he'd decided he must.

"I _will_ make this up to you," Thor said as they drew near the exit where Frigga waited. "Did your dad tell you they extended the honeymoon?"

Loki perked up visibly. "They did?"

"They couldn't cut down the list of things to see enough to fit into the two weeks. They're going to be gone a month."

That got him a smile. "That's good. I'm going to hold you personally responsible for making sure they don't come back early."

Thor leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I do love you. So much," he said.

The handoff was quick; Frigga was in the midst of training her replacement at work, which meant her actual work got shoved to the weekends.

Loki sat in his car waving and watching them go, until even the little plume of dust from the tires had settled. He sighed and turned the key.

*****

"Thor!" Lisa squealed when she answered her phone. "Are you back?"

"I am, for a week. Do you want to go to the Dairy Queen?" For some unimaginable reason, there was no soft-serve anywhere near Lake State, and it was one of the things he missed most about home.

"Always. I can be there in... an hour, I think? I still have some stuff to get done tonight. I'll text you?"

"Perfect."

She was there waiting for him and jumped up for a hug as he approached. "Is it just us?" she asked.

"Yeah. Should we go order?" It was a brisk evening, and there was no line.

"So, what's up?" she said as they sat down.

"Just a sec," he told her, taking in the sight of his massive butterscotch sundae. "I missed this."

She laughed as he took a huge bite and closed his eyes in bliss.

"Okay, that's better. Um, I actually called you because Loki suggested it," he started.

"Uh huh?"

"He said he thought you might be more... I don't know. Open, maybe. The thing is... crap. I hope you don't hate me after this."

Her face took on a look of worry. He sighed and continued. "Loki's my boyfriend," he said.

She lit up. "I knew it! I fucking knew it!"

"You did?"

"Don't look so worried, it wasn't that obvious. You're just really cute together, is all."

"Oh." He relaxed. "Do you think everybody thinks so?"

"I don't know." She took a long, slow lick of her cone as she thought. "Actually... I think Bragi might be the worst. Sorry."

Thor sighed. "Yeah, I kinda thought that too."

"So are you telling _everybody-_ everybody? Like a newspaper announcement?"

"I was thinking more like an interview where I kind of sneak it in."

"Mmm. I know who you should talk to."

"Yeah? That would be great."

"The sales rep who handles the ads for dad's store wants to get more into reporting. If she proposes an interview with you, they'll definitely let her write it, and she'll have to be sympathetic or I'll quit running our spots. We don't really need them, anyway, everybody already knows what we sell."

"That sounds perfect, Lisa. Thank you so much."

"Sure. I see her tomorrow, I'll give her your number. So now that that's out of the way, tell me know it feels to be named MVP?"

He took another bite of his sundae. _As sweet as this,_ he thought. He grinned. "It's been months and it still feels unreal."

His phone rang the next morning a little after ten.

"Hi, Thor? I'm Mary from the _Herald._ I talked to Lisa this morning, and if you're still interested in doing an interview, I'll give you a fair story."

Lisa hadn't been exaggerating how much Mary wanted to move from sales to reporting; when they met for lunch at noon, she already had a table with his favorite burger waiting. "Lisa told me what to get you," she explained.

She had brought her own list of questions and asked him to bring any that he wanted asked, as well. He skimmed over her list as he ate. As she had said, the questions were fair. Everything had been phrased neutrally, as he had tried to do with his own.

"Okay, should we get started?" she asked as they washed down the last of their fries with the tall Cokes that always seemed to taste better here than they did anywhere else. He nodded and she put a small recorder on the table.

The first few questions were easy, letting them both relax into the whole thing, questions about school, growing up on the farm, why he was going into geology. From there, they got harder, talking about his father's death, how that impacted him.

"And now your mom is remarrying and you're moving with her away from Ashton, right? How did she and your future stepfather meet?"

It was one of Thor's questions, and he had his answer all ready to go. "Yeah, we're moving north to Beuley, but Ashton will always be home." That was a good opener. Soften them up. "And it's a funny story how they met. It was the first parent's weekend at Lake State. My boyfriend's dad is single, and they hit it off."

She paused, waiting for him to continue. He nodded to indicate he was done.

"How do you plan to spend your summer, now that you won't be on a farm?" she asked.

When they were done, she thanked him and said to expect the story to run that week, on Monday. Right after he'd gone back to school. He hoped the house wouldn't get egged when he wasn't there to help clean.

*****

When Frigga got home from work, Thor told her about the interview.

"I'm proud of you. I hope the house doesn't get egged when you're not here to clean it," she said.

He laughed. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. I want to tell people in person, first, our family and my friends. I thought after dessert tonight?"

She nodded. "I have just enough time to make a pie, if you slice the apples for me."

She watched him as he set to work. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing things were different. Not that he was different -he was a good son, and a good man - but that he'd been born into a different, better world. Every parent wished that for their children, she mused, but he had a harder road ahead through no fault of his own.

He glanced up and caught her eye. "Wishing I was straight?" he asked.

Her first instinct was to say no, not at all, but that wasn't quite true.

"Only in that I want you to have an easy way in life," she answered.

It got her a wry smile. "Yeah, me too, sometimes," he said. "Don't tell Loki, okay? He already spends too much time worrying."

"I won't."

*****

Dinner went like every dinner; Freyr had Wheel of Fortune on (muted and captioned, the compromise he and Frigga had reached when she and Thor moved in), Bragi ate hunched over his plate, and Frigga and Thor talked politely.

It was with the last clinks of forks on the dessert plates that Thor spoke. "There's something I need to tell you before it's in the paper," Thor said. He hid his twisting hands below the table. "Remember Loki? Who visited last year?"

They nodded. Loki was not the type to be forgotten in Ashton.

"He's not just my roommate. He's- I love him. I'm in love with him."

He looked around the silent table, waiting for a reaction.

"He do that to you?" asked his uncle.

"Loki? No. It's just... how I am."

Freyr grunted. "Well, if that's how you are, that's how you are. Is there any pie left?"

"There is," Frigga reassured him. "It's on the counter."

Freyr nodded and wandered off.

Thor turned to his cousin. "Bragi?"

"How long?" he asked in a low voice.

"Umm, always. It's part of who I am."

"You knew this and you shared a room with me? Did you check me out?" Bragi spat.

Thor was taken aback. He had known this wouldn't go well, but that was certainly not something he'd expected. "Dude, no. You're my _cousin_ ," he said.

"Well, if you're one kind of sick, how do I know you aren't others?"

Thor sighed. "I'm not sick, Bragi, I'm different from you but I'm not sick. And I never checked you out."

Bragi stood. "I'm staying at Andy's," he said.

"No, it's okay. I'll sleep on the couch," Thor said.

"You need to pack. I'll go," Bragi said, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

Frigga slipped her arm around Thor's shoulders and gave him a squeeze that lasted well past the slam of the door that said his cousin was gone.

Freyr sank into the recliner and picked up the remote to unmute the tv. "My son's a pill sometimes," he said.

*****

Odin was at a business dinner after coming home to have lunch with Loki. Loki was stretched out in bed, reading -for pleasure, rather than for an assignment, and he could _not_ get enough of the luxury of it - when his phone rang.

"Hi," he answered happily.

"Hi," Thor said. Not happily.

"What's wrong?" Loki asked. He set his book aside with a piece of scrap paper marking his place, and rolled to his stomach.

"I told my family."

"Fuck. That bad?"

"My uncle was okay. I thought he would be. He's pretty live and let live, as long as you don't mess up the plowing or turn off his tv shows he doesn't care what else you do. But Bragi... Loki, he asked if I've checked him out."

Loki could hear the distress in Thor's voice, but he couldn't help laughing. "Thor," he gasped, "I'm really sorry to laugh and I know you're upset, but _Bragi?_ Seriously, even if he weren't your cousin, you wouldn't check him out in a million years."

Thor barked a laugh. Good. "You're right," he said.

"See? It's never the guys we'd want to look at that get worried about us looking at them. And Bragi is very definitely in that group." It wasn't like Bragi was put together wrong or anything; he even looked very much like Thor. But where blond hair and blue eyes and golden skin and muscles like whoa added up, on Thor, to godly perfection, on Bragi, they just... _didn’t._ Loki couldn't even say why, but Thor's cousin simply was not a man to catch the eye.

Thor sighed. "Thanks, baby. You always know what to say." And _that_ was far from true, Loki thought, but he wasn't going to argue, not right now, not when Thor was starting to cheer up.

"So what did Freyr say?"

"He was just like, 'eh, okay. Is there more pie?'"

"That's probably like the best you can hope for, huh?"

"Yeah. It was good."

"Mmm. Are you going to tell your friends tomorrow?" Loki asked more cautiously.

Thor sighed. "I'm sure Bragi's told everyone by now. I thought I'd just send a text asking to get together and see who shows up."

"That's good. Now tell me again how you're going to make this up to me?" For once, Loki was asking it more for Thor than for himself. Sometimes a distraction was the kindest offering.

"We'll fly to Paris. First class, so our legs don't cramp."

"Will we stay there?"

"No, we'll get a train to Provence..."


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting up, and afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Loki spent spring break getting up far earlier than he had originally intended. He was not only awake but caffeinated every single day Odin came home for lunch. The time was hardly ideal, but the construction crews got started early, building out the new bedroom downstairs. He had been about to point out that he and Thor could share his room, but he caught himself just in time. That would mean their parents were right across the hall, and Loki's bedframe was old, beautifully carved wood but very very squeaky and so he said nothing.

The morning after his hour-long phone call - in which he did, mercifully, have Thor happy and laughing by the end, as they play-fought over who could eat more French pastries - he finished cutting all the glass. He had decided to do a delicate copper-foil design, figuring that heavy lead would overwhelm everything else, but now that he was faced with the reality of _all that grinding_ he was starting to think he should have just gone shopping for a wedding present like a normal person.

He put the rattly boombox as high as it would go, figuring the grinder would drown out the way it messed with the treble, and set to work.

When he finally emerged from the garage, so close but not quite done, but he just couldn't do any more today, Odin was in the kitchen fixing dinner. He burst into laughter when he saw Loki.

"Oh, son. You might want to go shower while I cook," he said.

"Nice to see you, too, Dad."

"You're completely covered. There's a normal patch from your safety glasses and the rest of you is ghostly."

"Oh." Loki wandered upstairs to find that his dad was right, for once, he _was_ completely covered in the white powder of cast-off glass. It made the skin around his eyes look shockingly pink in contrast, and he got the water warming as he stripped quickly out of his - equally covered - clothing.

When he got out, once again normal-colored, he had a text on his phone.

_Wish me luck. I just asked everyone to meet me for burgers, we'll see who comes_

_Good luck. You know it's their loss if they don't come, right?_

_Yeah. I'm trying to_

Loki dried and dressed quickly and went downstairs. Dinner smelled good tonight, and worrying about Thor made him hungry.

*****

Thor sat at their favorite table, the one out front that always seemed the catch the best of the breeze. He chewed on his lip. The bad news had already started for the night: Lisa had offered to get there early and wait with him, but a few minutes ago he'd gotten a call from her, saying she had a flat and would be there as soon as she could.

So he sat, watching the road and wondering if anyone at all would show up.

"Hi, jerk!" said a cheerful voice behind him.

He turned. "Mini! Hi!" The last bit was muffled in her shoulder as she hugged him. "Why am I a jerk?"

She drew back, a teasing smile on her face as she answered . "Are you serious? I threw myself at you for _years_ , not knowing I had no chance. You could have just been like, 'hey, give up or get a cock!'"

He blushed guiltily. "Actually, I was mostly focused on earning a good scholarship..." he trailed off as she started giggling.

"Okay, mister. But just tell me, for the sake of my ego, if things were different? Would you have? "

He looked at her. She had a ready smile and an equally ready wit. She wasn't one of the prettier girls in Ashton, but she was always easy to be around, at once fun and relaxing. He nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I would have."

"Cool. That's good enough for me. Have you ordered?"

He shook his head. "Just my Coke. I was waiting for everyone. Or for whoever, I guess."

"I'll wait too, then. Be right back."

She went inside to order herself a drink - a cherry coke, with a cherry in it even though they usually saved those for desserts, because when she asked for it they could never tell her no - and he went back to watching the road.

Kelly got there next. "So is this why you never asked me out?"

"Hello to you, too," he said.

"Sorry. It's just such a relief to know it wasn't me," she said. "Hi."

Mini came out with a blast of cold air, just in time to hear the last of it. "That's exactly what I asked, too," she said.

"I mean, I flirted so hard, for years!"

Kelly had gotten a job in the school system's HR department after graduation, and she cut his mom's checks. "You know what Mom makes, Kelly, you know I had to get a scholarship. I don't think I'd really have been dating much anyway. "

"But if you would have dated a little... how about me? For my ego."

"He already said he'd have gone out with me," Mini interjected.

"Hey, there's plenty of imaginary straight Thor for everyone. Yes, Kelly, I'd have asked you out too."

Kelly was back with her drink, iced tea with lemon, no sugar, because there was diabetes in her family and she was terrified of it, when Joey walked up.

"Hey, man," he said.

"Hey," Thor said happily. He stood up and they punched each other's shoulders.

"So how come you never asked me out?" Joey asked.

Thor couldn't answer for a minute. "Um, I..."

Joey's face cracked into laughter. "Sorry," he said to the girls. "I did my best."

Thor looked between them. "You planned this?" he asked.

"Well, first Kelly and I were on the phone talking about how nice it was to know it wasn't us, and then Joey showed up and wanted to know what was so funny, and we got him in on it, " Mini explained.

"So you're okay with it?" Thor asked him.

"Well, I can't say I understand. I mean, dudes are all hairy and shit and we smell more, but I decided I don't have to understand, I just have to not be an asshole. And we've been friends a long time."

Thor thought about the delicate trail of hair that started just below Loki's belly button and led downward to the thick patch that so beautifully framed his cock, and of the soft, slightly spicy musk when he buried his face there. He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm really glad you came."

Joey smiled. "Me, too. Um, Mike and Carl and Becky said they're not coming."

It stung, but it wasn't really a surprise. And they weren't his closest friends, anyway. The people he cared most about - except his cousin - had all turned up.

"Should we order, then? I assume Andy's staying with Bragi..."

"No, he 's coming," Kelly said.

That was unexpected, and very welcome. He had been close to Andy, but Bragi had always been closer. 

With the news out of the way, talk turned to what everyone cared about more: football, and particularly, Thor making MVP. "My little sister has a Pinterest page of you," Mini said. "I didn't know little kids even did Pinterest."

"Have you seen a replay of that one touchdown you made against Bayshore?" Joey demanded.

Thor grinned. "Yeah, coach had us watch it four times. He kept talking about how I-"

Everyone went silent to watch as Andy's truck came down the road. A spot right in front had just opened up, and he took it. There was too much glare to see how many people were in the cab, and Thor sternly told himself not to get his hopes up. He couldn't help it, though, when he saw the passenger door pop open.

He told himself not to be disappointed to see Alice get out, but he was. She was a couple years older than the rest of them, and not really in their circle, so he hadn't expected her. She gave him a warm smile as they walked up, though, and an equally warm hug when they got to the table.

"Sorry, I know it wasn't me you were hoping for," she whispered into his ear.

"I'm still glad to see you, though," he told her.

"Hi," Andy said. His voice was scratchy.

"Are you getting sick?" Mini asked.

"No, just too much dust today," he said. Everyone nodded; it was a familiar cough out here.

They swarmed inside to place their orders, and a few minutes later a flurry of burgers and fries descended on the table. Lisa got there during the wait, and hers came only a few minutes after everyone else's.

"So, what's Loki doing over break?" Alice asked.

She and Loki had spent nearly all of Thanksgiving dinner rapt in conversation. It made sense she'd be the one to bring him up.

"He's doing a stained glass window for our parent's bedroom, as their wedding present," he said.

She raised her eyebrows. "That's awesome," she said.

"Yeah, I saw the design. It's really cool."

"Mmm, nice. Have you registered for next term yet?"

He shook his head. "Next week. I've got my plan set, though. The only one that might be hard to get in is with my advisor, and she said she'll let me add it if it fills up."

"That's cool. I'm still waiting on grad school letters, I can barely sleep."

"Crap. I am so not looking forward to that."

The sky was darkening when people began to leave, needing to get up for work in the morning. Finally, Andy and Alice were the only ones left.

"I'm getting more pie," Andy said, standing up.

"His voice is like that from yelling at Bragi," Alice said when they were alone.

Thor's eyes shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah. You know how protective he is of his sisters, and, well..."

That wasn't what he'd expected. "Oh. You're-"

She shrugged. "I'm still figuring it out. But I know I'm not Ashton-standard. He's the only one here I've told, until you."

"And so he's mad at Bragi?"

"I think he gets himself worked up worrying about me and this is the first chance he's had to take it out on someone. I do think he'll come around. He's starting to see reason."

" Bragi?" Andy said, sitting back down. He had his pie and three forks.

"Yeah," she said, reaching for one.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, man, it's going to take a little more time."

"No, that's- that's fine. Thank you."

"No problem. Now I want to hear about that catch you made in the game against Harton."

*****

Loki was woken by a soft text chime. He rolled over and blinked at the screen, bringing it into focus.

_It was good_

_He smiled. Then I'm happy too_

_Is it too late to call you?_

_No but dad's asleep so I have to be quiet_

He put the blanket over his head to muffle the ring, and answered halfway through the first chime. "Hi," he said quietly.

"Hi," Thor said.

"Tell me about it."

"A few people didn't come, but really it was more than I expected . And I didn't think Andy would come, but he did. He 's been yelling at Bragi so much he's nearly lost his voice. Alice was there, too. She said to tell you hi."

"Oh," Loki said, pleased. "Tell her I said hi back, if you see her."

"I will. Would you do something for me?"

Loki smiled at the tone that was creeping into Thor's voice. "What?"

"Can I listen to you?"

"I thought you already were," Loki teased.

"You know what I mean. Today was good, but hard. I want something purely good to end it."

"Okay."

Loki shoved away his covers and reached down with one hand. It would take a little work to get into it so soon after waking up. Fortunately, he had stolen one of Thor's shirts from his laundry hamper (one he'd thrown in from habit rather than need; it had just the right amount of Thor's scent on it, and Loki had given it a light spritz of his cologne and hidden it in the bottom of his suitcase while Thor was in class) and it was on the pillow next to him. He turned his head and breathed in slowly, imagining the way Thor's shirts always wrapped themselves around his muscles, stretching just enough over his chest for his nipples to show through when he stretched. His cock began to stir in his hand and he hummed softly.

He ran his fingers lightly over it as it thickened, imagining Thor pulling his shirt off, tugging at the shoulders as his firm stomach came into view, then his chest, finally his face again with his hair always a little messed up. He reached for his bottle of lube and slicked himself quickly. He worked himself, gaining speed when Thor made a soft growl at the sound of his panting. He was getting close, sooner than he'd expected, but since part of him wanted to make Thor happy and the rest of him wanted to go back to sleep, he didn't try to slow down.

Loki came with a soft, gasping _ah!_ He took a moment to catch his breath before whispering into the phone. "Happy?" he asked.

"Yeah, baby. I am."


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their second birthday together rolls around. It's good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

The article was printed on Monday, as expected. The following week's paper had three angry letters to the editor, complaining about the modern media pushing the homosexual agenda onto society. Thor just laughed when he read them online. 

"My current homosexual agenda is to do well in school," he said. "I'd push that on anybody." 

The week after that, there were five letters in response. They varied from general ones, saying that just because Ashton was small was no reason for them to be small-minded, to specific ones. Two of the letter writers said that they were more interested in Thor's plans for graduate school than they were in who he was dating, and pointedly suggested that the previous week's writers must be from that part of town where the water didn't catch on fire. "It must be nice to have your biggest worry be _who_ a good kid is doing, rather than _what_ the gas companies are doing," one of them wrote, rather earthily for a small-town paper. 

"That's Mini's grandpa," Thor crowed, pointing at it. 

Loki stood behind Thor, reading over his shoulder. He leaned forward to wrap his arms around Thor's shoulders and kiss his cheek. "Things are getting better," he said softly. 

Thor squeezed his hand. "Yeah, they really are." 

***** 

"I have a question, before we're all done here," Thor said at the end of the weekly floor meeting. "Would anyone mind if Loki and I have our birthday party out here in the lounge next Wednesday? The floor's invited, of course." 

He was met with a sea of shaking heads. 

"Thanks," he said. He was very glad that the only person who really seemed to mind their noise lived on the floor below and didn't get a vote. 

"Told you," Loki said as they walked back to their room. 

Thor snorted. 

"I _did_ ," Loki insisted. "You're like Ferris Bueller." 

"I've never played sick in my life," Thor said. 

" _The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude,_ " Loki recited. 

"Well, the dickheads do, anyway. Look at you," Thor teased. 

Loki's eyes narrowed and he lunged forward, tickling the little spots at the edges of Thor's belly that set him off into helpless laughter. "Take it back," Loki said, laughing with him. 

"No way," Thor gasped. "You're proving me right." 

"Am not," Loki said, tickling harder. 

"Okay, okay," Thor pleaded at last. "You're sweet and pure as a newborn kitten." 

"Damn right I am," Loki said as he broke away and fixed his hair. "Come on, we should make a list. Tomorrow's my best chance to go shopping." 

They sprawled out on their stomachs, Loki propped up on his elbows with a notebook, Thor's cheek resting on his pillow. "It _is_ nice watching other people work," he mused. 

Loki grinned at him. "Told you. I'm always right, remember?" His hand inched towards Thor's waist. 

"I'm getting the idea," Thor agreed. 

***** 

The grocery list ended up being replaced by impulse shopping, as list-making had given way to something noteably more fun. There were bowls of potato chips (plain, barbeque for Thor, salt-and-vinegar for Loki), a huge one of tortilla chips and every kind of premade salsa that looked good, Oreos, and - at least one thing homemade - a gigantic chocolate bourbon cake with dark chocolate ganache. The sangria paired with it distinctly badly, but after a long winter, everyone was too happy to get good fruit to care. 

"I can help you with the cooking leftovers," Tony said as he strolled in. 

"Sorry. The whole bottle went into the cake," Loki said, looking down from his perch on Thor's shoulders as they filled the lounge with streamers. With their birthday on a weeknight, Loki had agreed to have a party on the actual day, and the two of them would go clubbing on Saturday. Both were happy enough with the arrangement, though Loki had insisted on getting to choose the colors for decorating. So it was that their cheerful party had black streamers (shelved in the 'over-the-hill' section of the party store downtown) with a few green ones for contrast. 

"It kind of looks like a morgue in here," said Natasha as she wandered in. 

"You _did_ about kill me in class yesterday," Loki pointed out. 

Thor gave her a stern look; Loki had come home with some particularly nasty bruises last night, and a bit of a limp. 

She shrugged. "You didn't block right." 

After the initial few, people began to show up more quickly. When the noise level picked up, their floormmates trickled out, some lingering and talking, some grabbing a plate of snacks and going back to their room. 

Darcy appeared out of nowhere and attacked Loki in what he took to be a hug but felt rather like a torpedo. "Hi, Darcy," he said faintly. 

"You guys! Happy birthday! Birthdays!" she said. She shoved boxes into their hands. 

"Darce, you didn't need to do that, we're just happy to have so many of our friends here," Loki said. 

Thor looked at him. Loki was lying about both presents and crowds, and they both knew it. From the grin she gave Thor when she caught his eye, it seemed Darcy did as well. 

They tore off the wrapping paper and opened the boxes to find them filled with jelly beans. " _Sugar._ Thanks," Loki said. 

Her hand shot into his box. "Er elcom," she said through a packed mouth. 

Thor noticed Steve arriving alone and left Loki with Darcy to make his way through the crush of people. "Hi, Steve! You should have brought Bucky." 

"Hi, happy birthday! He's TA'ing a late class, he should be here around nine." 

"Oh, cool. Did you hear back on your applications yet?" 

Steve broke into a broad smile. "I'm starting the history PhD at Longmoor this fall, focusing on World War Two- era US propaganda." 

"That's great news! I'm so excited for you. Hey, Loki! C'mere!" 

Loki wove a path through the crush of bodies. "Hey, I'm glad you could make it," he told Steve. 

"Steve has good news," Thor said. 

"I'm going to Longmoor." 

"Congratulations! Wow, California. It's one of the top schools for history, isn't it?" 

Steve nodded, still smiling. 

"Do you know anyone out there?" asked Thor. 

"Buck's moving with me," he said a little shyly. 

"Yeah? That's awesome. You two seem really happy together," Loki said. The English department was on the path between the art and history buildings, and it seemed like not a day had passed in weeks that he didn't see them going back and forth. They didn't hold hands, but they always walked with their heads tilted towards each other, like they were so deep in conversation that they forgot the rest of the world existed. One time Loki saw Steve walk into a light pole. 

Steve instantly looked nervous. "We do? We're trying to be discreet, what with Bucky teaching," he said. 

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. You're not very good at it." 

"Oh." He looked utterly crestfallen and wandered off towards the sangria. 

Sif and Anna arrived just in time to sing _Happy Birthday_ before the cake was cut. Bucky was just after. He and Steve stood together, sharing a piece of cake and a single fork and trying really hard to look they weren't together, despite how they were eating. 

Loki looked around as he finished his cake. The lounge was packed with people - Clint and Natasha were nursing cups of sangria as Sara told a story, the nicer members of the football team had come and Thor was standing with Hogun and Volstagg as Fandral told them something with his hands as much as his mouth. Even Jane wasn't bugging him. It slowly dawned on him that he liked them all. 

Their birthday was on a Friday next year. Maybe they'd have a party again. 


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I know what I want instead of birthday presents this year," Loki said. 
> 
> Thor looked at him a long time. "You? You don't want a present? Who are you, and what did you do with my boyfriend?" he asked at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was brought to you in part by [that SNL picture of Chris getting a manicure.](https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Chris-Hemsworth-SNL-03-08-15-970x545.jpg)
> 
> Enjoy!

Thor's summer internship was a lot of things: exciting, prestigious, educational, useful. But, like many internships, there was one very important thing that it wasn't: paid. He hadn't been paid to work on the farm, either, of course. That was how farms worked, everyone pitching in. And his mom had given him pocket money when he wanted to go out with his friends, so it hadn't mattered. The difference was that he didn't have to gas up the tractors. So from the day he got the acceptance letter, he started saving every cent he could.

Birthday presents suddenly became fraught with worry. Loki had considered suggesting homemade gifts again, but the last time they'd done that, they'd been able to work on them over break (or longer, for Thor). The end of the term was getting near enough that it would be hard to give up the time to make something.

The answer had come as they were going to bed one night, a few weeks before the big day. Thor had gotten in first to take his spot nearer the wall (it got drafty, and they never seemed to bother him like they did Loki) and settled in, tucking the blankets down near his waist where he liked them. Loki had climbed in after, rubbing an affectionate hand across Thor's bared back. He seemed like he was getting less freaked about finals as the terms passed - he _was_ getting better, Loki hadn't found him studying at 3 am in ages - but his muscles were still way too tense.

"I know what I want instead of birthday presents this year," he said, scooting close.

Thor looked at him a long time. " _You?_ You don't want a present? Who are you, and what did you do with my boyfriend?" he asked at last.

Loki clicked his tongue. "It's just a different kind of present," he said. "Since we're going up to the city that weekend, let's go early and go to a day spa."

Thor pictured himself in a bathrobe, maybe with a towel around his head, while someone painted his nails. "I'm not sure I'm a day spa sort of person," he said carefully.

Loki knew exactly what he was thinking. "I'm not talking about getting our nails done. I mean sit in a private sauna for a while, take a nice long shower that isn't cramped and squeaky, and then get a massage? Get these knots out," he said, working them gently with his fingers.

TV had given Thor a rather inaccurate idea of what went on in those places, it seemed. "Oh. That does sound really nice," he admitted.

"Great." Loki kissed his shoulder. "I'll find somewhere tomorrow and make a reservation. I'll look for a place that does couple's massages."

*****

The Saturday after their birthday brought with it an early storm. They woke to the sound of thunder, so close it shook the glass in their windows.

"Mmm, open the curtain," Loki said, curling himself around Thor's warm side. Thor reached up and slid it back. It was after eight but the sky was still nearly black, the heavy clouds glowing from inside as bolts of lightning arced between them. The storm was coming in from the west, and soon their window was being pounded with rain so that they could only make out darkness with intermittent flashes. Thor seemed to thrive on these storms, as though he took energy straight from the sky. They watched in silence, happy. When it finally passed perhaps an hour later, they drifted back seamlessly into sleep.

*****

The spa was vaguely Japanese in theme, if the smooth, low furniture and cherry blossom wallpaper were anything to go by.

"I thought saunas were Nordic," Thor whispered as they got in line to check in.

"They are, but who doesn't love them?" Loki answered, just as quietly.

Loki had gotten the last private sauna, the receptionist told them, giving them a paper map and marking where they were, where their sauna was, and how to find their massage room.

They found their door - S4, it said, in delicate gold letters - and went inside. The changing room was painted a soft green. The furniture was blonde wood, undecorated except for a vase with a branch of pussy willows on the table. The shower was in a recessed corner of the room, floored with smooth stone. They undressed, taking a moment to enjoy the sight of each other, before wrapping towels around their waists and sliding into the light slippers provided.

When they went through the door on the far wall, the heat smacked into them like a truck. Loki was first, and Thor watched him stagger slightly before stumbling to the nearest bench and collapsing. He fumbled at the tuck of the towel around his waist until it fell open onto the broad plank of wood. Thor - used to working in the summer heat while Loki spent his breaks in an air conditioned store - was able to take it better. He sat down opposite Loki, wanting to enjoy every moment of the view of Loki naked and dripping sweat.

It was good to have time to just sit and talk. There was too little of that, most days. Even on the drive up, traffic had been bad and there were some early drunks on the road, taking Loki's attention away from him. Not that he begrudged it - he had no interest in getting squished - but... this was special. It wasn't even like they talked about anything in particular. Just random things for the pleasure of talking together. Things like _Sif said the mosquitoes are already back, she got two bites yesterday_ and _Hogun's getting a group together to start putting on Japanese movies in the student union_.

It took perhaps five minutes before Loki had to go get some water. The outside air felt frigid, and he moved quickly to fill two pitchers of water and get back inside the heated room. He handed one to Thor and drank half of his in a single go before sitting back down. Thor had put away even more of his. Despite the oppressiveness of the heat, he couldn't help how his breath picked up when Thor poured the rest of the pitcher over his own head, blond hair darkening and the slight wave straightening out.Thor caught his eyes and grinned.

"You did that on purpose," Loki said.

"Yup," Thor said, still grinning.

Loki sat back down, smiling back.

They had set the timer to give them the chance for a long, leisurely shower. The head was huge, and the water pressure was gently insistent, like washing in the summer rain. Both of them were red as lobsters from the sauna, but by the time they got to the massage room their skin had started to return to normal. The massage therapists were just getting fresh towels down onto the tables as Loki poked his head in the half-open door.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi, come in," one of them said. She was tall, with brown hair tied back out of her face. Her partner was nearly the same height, a burly man with close-cropped blond hair. "I'm Helen, and this is Jeffrey."

"Hi," Jeffrey said, nodding.

They stepped out of the room long enough for Loki and Thor to slip out of the loose bathrobes that had been provided for wandering the spa and get settled onto the tables with towels over their hips.

When they came back in, they asked what each of them wanted from their massages.

"I just want something relaxing," Loki said. When Thor didn't answer, he continued, "Thor needs a bunch of knots worked out."

"That's me, then," said Helen. "You wouldn't guess it from looking at him, but Jeffrey's a total pussycat."

"I am. My favorite is when I can put someone to sleep," he agreed.

As it turned out, Jeffrey got what he wanted almost immediately. Between the lengthening days and the allergies that were never really under control, spring tended to put Loki on edge for months straight. Jeffrey had started with Loki's right hand, gently tugging on his fingers and rolling his thumbs lightly between the bones. Loki's eyes had fallen shut by the time Jeffrey got to his wrist. He was asleep before it was time for his elbow.

Thor, on the other hand, was learning how it felt to be a tough cut of meat being tenderized before cooking. Helen attacked the worst of the knots in his large muscle groups like they were threatening her family. The closest thing to a break that she gave him was when she switched to smaller muscles for variety. By the end of their time, he felt like he'd been through a hail-filled tornado.

It was heaven.

They floated through dinner on puffy marshmallow clouds. At the club, they danced six inches above the floor.

They tangled their fingers together as they walked outside at closing.

"Tonight was perfect. I don't want it to end," Loki sighed.

"...as he says about his own idea," Thor teased.

"Well, it was a good idea."

"Mmm, it was. You're right. And tonight doesn't have to end," Thor said, tugging Loki the wrong direction from the car. He'd snuck off to the bathroom to check on his phone when they announced last call. There was an all-night diner just two blocks away.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frigga has a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you didn't expect an update after I posted yesterday, but here it is! Hahahaha oh I suck at April Fool's.
> 
> Enjoy.

Frigga's phone rang as she was on her way to the staff lounge to grab some coffee. She paused a second before answering; it was Odin's area code, but not his number. 

It was the landscaper. "I've got enough starting to bud, I'm all set to plant. I was wondering if you'd like to be involved with the setup, give a final okay to the placement?" she asked. 

"I'd love to, but I could only do it over the weekend," Frigga said regretfully. 

"That's fine with me, as long as this weather holds. How about Saturday afternoon?" 

"Perfect. I'll see you then." 

Frigga spent the drive to Beuley thinking of all the ways she could embarrass her son once they were all living in one house together. Most of them were things she would never actually do. Those were the funniest. 

Odin was just putting the finishing touches on lunch when she pulled up, and he was wiping his hands on his apron when he met her at the door. "Even without the flowers, the yard looks really good. I thought we'd eat outside," he suggested. 

She gave him a kiss. "Brilliant." 

He was right. The yard had been a plain square of grass when he and Farbauti had bought the house, and they originally kept it that way for Loki to play. By the time it became clear that he wasn't the sort of child to have the neighborhood kids over for kickball, she was gone and Odin was giving everything he had just to keep going. Eventually, inertia took over, and the yard stayed as it was for no more reason at all. 

Now, though, it was transformed. The landscaper had put in a few trees, semi-dwarves that would be easy to maintain but small enough to cast a respectable amount of shade. The ground at their feet was covered in ferns and little creeping plants with speckled leaves. The sunny beds were domes of soil, waiting for their flowers to arrive. 

A small table stood in the shadow of the house, and Frigga sat down while Odin brought out lunch. It was simple - a lightly dressed salad and club sandwiches, but she liked it. She'd eaten enough badly prepared fancy meals for her to appreciate when someone knew their limits and worked well within them. There was pear cider to drink, so dry it was almost but not quite champagne, crisp and refreshing and perfect for a weekend afternoon. 

Tamera arrived around three, popping around the side of the house. "I thought I'd find you back here," she said in greeting. 

"You've done amazing work. I wish I could just live out here," Frigga told her. 

She smiled. "That's my goal with every job, making gardens people never want to leave. This is my first time doing the flowers for a wedding, though. I'm really excited." 

"I already know it's going to be lovely," Frigga said. 

"As long as everything blooms on schedule," Tamera said wryly. "Irises can be moody." 

Frigga didn't have any doubts. "Even if it's all green, it will be beautiful." 

"Thanks. Well, I'd better get started if I'm going to finish up today." 

"I'm happy to take orders. I'd hate to use up your whole weekend." 

"I wouldn't say no. Let's get everything from my truck, to start." 

Odin joined them to empty the truck, but politely withdrew himself before planting started. "I tend to kill plants. The best help I can be is bringing you lemonade," he explained. 

Tamera tied her hair back, the long slender braids making an elegant knot on the back of her head. Frigga pulled some bobby pins from her pocket and made her own, much messier, bun. 

"Let's do all the irises first, and then come back for the violas," Tamera said. She dug the first hole, showing the size and depth she wanted, then put down spot markers to show Frigga where to dig. They fell into an easy rhythm after that, Frigga digging the holes and Tamera following along after her, coaxing plant after plant gently out of its pot and fanning the roots before settling it snuggly into place and patting down the soil around it. 

They chatted as they worked. Frigga learned that not only was Tamera was only a little younger than herself - "I thought you were in your late twenties!" she confessed, making Tamera laugh and say she heard that a lot - they had been to the same college with two years of overlap. They agreed it was a shame that with Frigga firmly in the humanities and Tamera always in the biology building, they had never met. 

They liked the same music and books, and best of all, they shared a sense of humor. Odin discovered this last fact when he brought them a pitcher of fresh lemonade, and they looked up at him, looked at each other, and burst into laughter. He decided it was best not to ask. Best simply be happy that Frigga was starting to make a friend in Beuley. He was still glad when her giggling ebbed enough to explain that they had just been agreeing a cold drink right about now would be perfect, though. 


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school introduces an alternative to room draw. It's perfect for people who prefer things like sex to things like packing.
> 
> Thor and Loki are first in line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely happy with the bj in this chapter, but I've been fighting with it for days, and at some point I just have to post and move on. I do like the rest of it, though. I hope you do too.
> 
> For the non-US folks- the WPA was part of the New Deal to get us out of the Depression, where the government made a ton of jobs. A lot of the projects were very ornate and beautiful to boost people's spirits and employ artists as well as other types of workers. (There's something in here that would probably seem completely bizarre if 'WPA' means nothing to you. ;) My college had some similar things to what's here.)
> 
> Enjoy!

The flyer Thor found in his mailbox was very interesting indeed. He read over it with a pleased smile before dropped the rest of his mail into the recycling and throwing his bag over his shoulder. The weather was beautiful, walking back to the dorm. The sky had high, wispy clouds cutting through a rich blue, the air was _just_ right and it seemed like every bird was singing all at once. It was more than a little difficult to make himself go inside. 

"Hey, did you see this?" he asked, holding up the flyer as Loki looked up to smile hello. 

"I did. What do you think?" 

"We could probably get a bigger room if we went through the draw again, but I really like having our own bathroom." 

"Me, too. And I heard that if we homestead instead of drawing, we can leave our stuff here over the summer instead of having to pack it all up and put it in storage." 

"Let's do it," Thor said instantly. 

Loki grinned. "No arguments here." Having to pack and empty and clean their room during the middle of finals had been a huge stress last year. This year's classes were harder, and it would only be that much worse. He was more than happy to skip that entirely. 

"Cool. Do you want to go over to student housing and do the form right now? We might as well get it done, and it's really nice out." 

"Five minutes? I'm almost done with this chapter." 

"Sure." 

He was done in three. 

"Shit, it is nice out. I should have been reading outside," he said as they left the dorm. 

Thor grinned. "I knew I'd turn you into a nature boy. My very own patchouli wearing, granola eating nature boy." 

"You want me to switch to patchouli? I can." 

Thor was about ninety-nine percent sure that Loki wouldn't call his bluff. But he really liked how Loki currently smelled, and decided that it was better not to risk that one percent. 

"Hell, no," he said. 

Loki smirked. "Didn't think so," he said. They fell silent after that, just holding hands and enjoying the air. 

The woman at the desk looked up as they went into the office."Hi, how can I help you?" she asked. 

"We'd like to keep our dorm room next year," Thor said. 

"Well, that was quick," she said brightly. "You're the first ones in." 

"We really hate packing," Loki explained. 

She nodded understandingly. "This idea just got started a couple years ago, but every school that's started offering it has seen a huge number of students taking advantage of it. It saves us a lot of work, too, so it's really making everyone happy." 

She gave them a simple form to read and sign. They looked over it together and then initialed a bunch of spots and signed the bottom. She swiveled the paper back to make sure everything was filled in. She got to their signatures and her eyes shot up. "You're the birthday boys!" she said. 

"Yeah, did you match us?" Thor asked. 

"I did indeed." 

"So was it a joke, or are you psychic?" Loki asked. 

She looked at their casually twined fingers and smiled. "Not telling," she said. 

"Oh, come on. Please," Thor said. 

The look she gave him was markedly similar to a particular one of his mother's. The one that said that he could keep asking, but he wasn't getting his way. 

"Well, you were right," he told her. 

"I generally am," she explained. 

"You don't happen to have a long-lost sister named Frigga, do you?" 

She laughed. "No, but I bet that's your mom, huh?" 

He nodded. 

"I get that a lot. Well, it looks like we're all set, I'll get this entered and you should have a confirmation email by tonight. Give me a call tomorrow if you haven't heard." 

"Thanks, we will," Loki said. 

"All right, you boys take care." 

"Okay, thanks, bye." 

She was already sitting down at her computer and waved bye over her shoulder. 

"Do you have time to go for a walk?" Thor asked as they left. Heading back towards the dorm put the sun right in their eyes. It was painfully bright, and even behind his sunglasses Loki was blinking like crazy. 

"Where do you want to go?" he asked before committing. 

"The woods?" Thor asked hopefully. Fandral had given a few select members of the team directions to a particular spot down an 'abandoned' trail that sounded well worth visiting. He had gone a few days ago to check it out, and suspected that Loki would like it just as much. Or close enough, anyway. 

"Yes, shade sounds perfect," Loki groaned. 

"Great." They turned more north, enough that it wasn't painful to see, but it was still nice to pass into the first cluster of trees. The early gold-green had deepened into a rich dark emerald. The trees here weren't as thick as where they had camped, but since this had been replanted only a century ago after being clear-cut by European settlers, it would take centuries for it to return fully. It was still a welcome reprieve from the hubbub of campus, as the hush and the cool fell around them. 

Thor walked much more purposefully than Loki had expected from an impromptu stroll. "Where are we going?" he asked. 

"Oh, just walking," Thor said. His tone was casual, but Loki couldn't quite catch his eye. 

"Mmm-hmm," Loki answered. "Sure." 

Thor looked at him then, and grinned. "Well, we are walking," he pointed out. 

The floaty feeling from their massages hadn't lasted nearly as long as either would have liked. Thor was getting into his end-of-term worries and Loki was back to feeling on edge from the spring, but the woods were peaceful enough to almost forget. There weren't huge numbers of flowers, but they kept passing small clusters of violets, their pale throats turned up to welcome the bees that bumbled around. Most were purple, but there were a few clumps of white and yellow ones as well. 

"I didn't know violets could be yellow," Loki said. "They're pretty." 

"Yeah, we're lucky to see them. They're not very common. My mom loves them." 

Loki nodded. "They look like her, somehow." 

"They do." 

Perhaps twenty minutes down the trail, Thor slowed down and kept his eyes on the ground on the left side of the path. 

"What are you looking for?" Loki asked. 

Thor tried to look innocent. 

"You do know, when you try to look innocent, you just look extra busted, don't you?" Loki pointed out. 

"It's just something I heard about," Thor told him. 

"Okay," Loki said, quirking his eyebrow. 

The next turn they made was decidedly not onto a regular path. Not anymore, anyway. The maintained trails were all neatly edged with low boards, marking the walking area. This path... in a few places, the rotting remains of old boards could be seen, moss and lichen half covering what was left. The way was still fairly obvious, though, once you knew to look for it. And Thor clearly had known where to look. Loki smirked at him. 

They took their time here, walking carefully to avoid crushing any tender plants that had crept over the edging. Loki walked behind Thor, keeping to the barren center of the path. That's how he didn't notice when Thor stopped ped until he crashed into him. 

"You could at least _pretend_ that I almost knocked you over," Loki said, before looking up. " _Oh!_ " he breathed. 

They were at the side of a creek, right where it widened into a pond. A bridge crossed it, the sides of elaborate wrought iron that had begun to rust and carved stonework arching over each end. 

"This was a WPA project. Fandral works in the university archivist's office, and someone asked for all the public works papers there, so he saw this. Most of the stuff done on campus was new buildings, but there was also a crew that worked in the forest." 

"It's beautiful," Loki said, walking slowly onto the bridge. Thor followed him. A single duck, his head shining a brilliant teal in the dappled sunlight, paddled calmly over the surface of the pond, completely ignoring them in his hunt for fish. They sat down, legs dangling between the twisting bars of the railing. 

Thor leaned over and kissed Loki gently on the side of his mouth. Loki sighed happily and turned to face him, meeting Thor's lips and letting the kiss slowly deepen. Thor brought his hand to Loki's cheek, letting his fingers skim over the high cheekbone and into the gully of his open jaw. He tasted faintly like candy, like he'd been digging through their bag of Starbursts and eating all the cherry ones again. 

His lips were meltingly soft and his tongue was moving deliriously against his own and though he hadn't planned anything beyond kissing somewhere quiet, he felt himself beginning to respond. He slipped his hand further back, fingers spread to entangle themselves in Loki's hair. Loki's faint sound of want urged him on, and he tightened his hold as he shifted enough to wrap his free hand around Loki's waist. 

Loki twisted around to face Thor better, his breath hitching slightly as he felt Thor's fingers slipping beneath his shirt. They were cool against his skin and just rough enough to contrast pleasantly with the smoothness of his stomach. Thor's tongue explored his mouth lazily. A moment later his thumb was rubbing across his belly at the same easy pace, tracing up and down on the narrow trail of dark hair that led into his low-slung jeans. 

When Thor reached further up Loki's shirt to rub his palm in broad, rough circles across Loki's pert nipples, he could feel his heart racing, like it was trying to beat its way straight out of the narrow ribs that enclosed it. Its pace matched the demanding throb in his own cock. He reluctantly slipped away, pulling his legs back from the edge of the bridge and rising to kneel. He knew what he wanted to do, but Loki leaned forward and rubbed his face against the bulge in Thor's jeans, his face tilted up enough to make sure that Thor would see his expression- eyes shut and sinfully long black lashes dusting his cheeks, a peaceful smile that his rushing blood belied. Thor swallowed, hard, and his head fell forwards as Loki drew his own want to the fore. 

Thor shoved away his own growing urgency. The look on Loki's face had put another image dancing through his mind, and he wanted it. His hands stuttered slightly as he tugged off his light windbreaker. "Here, baby. Lay down on this," he said, spreading it out, and _fuck_ if he couldn't have almost come from the look in Loki's eyes when they opened to meet his own. 

Loki did as Thor told him, drawing his legs back more carefully, avoiding any rust stains on his jeans, and stretching out along the bridge, his hips on the jacket and his head cushioned on his hand. He watched as Thor shifted over him to unbutton his jeans, and he raised his hips when Thor took hold of the waist to pull them down. The air was a little chilly on his cock, though it felt warm enough everywhere else. That hardly mattered, though. He suspected it would soon be much warmer. 

Thor knelt between Loki's knees, forcing himself to admire for a moment before claiming what was his. Loki's erection, just for him. That and the come that was already destined for him, waiting for him. As he watched, Loki's cock twitched slightly and a drop of thick dew fell to his stomach. Mustn't forget that, he thought; that was his as well. He leaned down and licked it up. 

"Pull your shirt up for me a little? I want to see more of you," Thor said as he raised his head from licking a broad, hot stripe across his stomach. Loki arched his back, well aware of what _that_ particular sight always did to Thor, and slid his shirt up to bunch across his chest. He watched Thor's eyes darken as they moved over him, eating him up like the fairytale giant he so nearly was. Thor sat up on his knees and pulled his shirt off. "Here, for your head," he said, offering it. Loki took it silently and made a quick pillow of it. It was thin, and he was still more comfortable with his hand there as well, but it was nice to have his knuckles pressed into a soft knit instead of rough boards. And then Thor didn't make himself wait anymore. He lowered his head with a last flash of his eyes at Loki, and took what he wanted. Loki's cock was so smooth between his lips, so easy to slide down, so easy to coax it into giving him its slick salty pearls, so easy to make Loki gasp and arch irresistibly beneath him. 

Thor usually tried to be polite about swallowing periodically rather than drooling all over Loki while trying to get him off. But today he had special plans, and he didn't bother. It was kind of nice. It was part of why he liked going down on Loki in the shower; one less thing to distract him from their mutual enjoyment. 

"You're slobbery today," Loki said with a slight laugh. 

Thor raised his head to speak. "For good reason," he said. He kept his eyes on Loki's face as he shifted his weight onto one arm and raised the other, sliding his long middle finger between the slicked cheeks of Loki's ass until it was covered in wetness. "Yes?" he asked, resting the tip lightly against Loki's entrance. Loki nodded his head, and he pressed in. He went achingly slowly, his eyes sharp as they watched for any sign of discomfort, but there was none. By the time he was buried within fluttering, soft warmth, Loki's eyes had fallen shut and his head was collapsed back onto his arm. 

It had been a little harder to take with just spit, but Thor had been careful, and Loki did like the feeling of something inside him when Thor used his mouth. It made everything more intense, and Thor seemed to like how his muscles clenched and squeezed when he came. Any moment now, Thor's lips would slide down, take him in. Lick and suck and send him flying. Instead Thor spoke. 

"Do you know how you feel inside?" he asked, his voice low and rich with desire. 

Loki rather suspected it was more or less the way Thor felt inside. It didn't really seem like a part that would have that much variation. He shook his head _no_ anyway. He wanted to hear it. 

"So hot," Thor said. He lowered his head and planted a trail of kisses down the soft skin of Loki's inner thigh. "And even softer than here." He curled his finger, so, so gently, stroking the walls of the tight passage. "Like silk. You're like being buried in warm silks, and I love it, I love how you feel inside..." 

Loki smiled. Yes, that was exactly how Thor felt, too, and he loved it just as much, and he was smiling more broadly at the thought of it when Thor's mouth came down around him, making him gasp and arch his back. "Mmm-hmmm," Thor purred as he slid his lips up and down, each time taking a little more. The vibrations shot straight into him, echoing through his belly and pulling the coils of his arousal tighter, twisting and twisting as he drew closer. 

He slipped his hand out from where it cushioned his head. Thor had shifted up higher over him, and with that exquisitely sculpted body within arm's reach it seemed a waste not to run his hands over it, skimming down his arms, around his back. Loki could feel the muscles shifting beneath his skin each time he rose up and slid down, the sensations melting together into a dizzying blur. 

When Loki's boneless writhing and wandering hands gave way to stillness and panting and curling hips, Thor shifted so that he could get a better angle and went all the way down, burying his lips in soft black curls and beckoning with his finger, pressing against the firm cluster of nerves with each deep pull of his mouth until Loki made a choked sound and then he was spilling, wave after wave spilling into Thor's throat, his entrance grabbing and tightening around him as he came. 

"Your turn. Trade with me," Loki said when he was reasonably sure he could move again. 

"That sounds nice, but you're shivering, baby. Let's go home first. It'll be warm in bed." Thor put his shirt on, but let Loki (who, after all, was the one who'd just been half-naked in the cooling air) wear his jacket. It was a little chilly for him walking back to the dorm, too, but he was right. Their bed was warm with the late afternoon sun that poured through the window, waiting to welcome them home. 


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Packing and goodbyes. But as one door closes, another opens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, sophomore year draws to a close. The fourth part of the series will start up in a few days - I have a decent amount of it written, but it's chunky and needs to be formed into chapters. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Finals were at once harder and easier than they had been before. This was the most difficult term, course-wise; Loki's essays were longer, Thor's tests more involved in minutia. And yet Thor slept better, with Loki warm against him and his soft breath on his neck or in his hair lulling him to rest. Sleeping well made it easier for him to study, which in turn helped him worry less. It was true what they always said: a good night's sleep made it easier to deal with stress, which he had known perfectly well but was finally experiencing for himself (before, in a horrible jab of unfairness, the knowledge had simply been one more thing to worry about as he lay awake at three a.m.). Loki noticed it as well. 

"You don't seem as worried this term," he said. 

"It's sleeping next to you." 

"Are you saying I put you to sleep?" Loki teased. 

"Only when I need you to," Thor answered, wrapping his arms around him. "My cozy snuggle bunny." 

"You really can't call me that, Thor," Loki said with a snort. 

"My prickly love? My darling hedgehog?" 

Loki sighed. "It's just going to get worse if I object, isn't it?" 

"Yup," Thor agreed happily. 

Loki slept better, too. 

***** 

Thor took his last test a day before finals ended, leaving him free while Loki was still writing madly, music blaring in his headphones. He spent the afternoon running up and down the stairs, doing loads of all the clothes that would stay in their room over the summer. In between, he cleaned the room to get it nice and welcoming when they returned. Loki would look up periodically and smile at Thor as he thought about what to write next. 

He was halfway up the first flight with an overloaded basket when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He shifted the basket to one hip and checked it, half expecting it to be Loki asking him to bring a drink from the vending machine in the basement - out of all the machines in the dorm, that was the only one that was regularly stocked with grape soda. Instead it was Steve, suggesting that they get together for a little while tomorrow night. He slipped the phone into his pocket and went up to the room, where he tugged the earbuds from Loki's ears. 

"Steve wants to know if we're free tomorrow night," he said. 

Loki nodded. "I am." A lot of people were leaving Friday night, after things ended, or were already gone. People not graduating had to be out of the dorms on Saturday at noon, and the two of them had decided to stay rather than driving on a Friday night. Neither minded it when there was a reason to be out, but when there wasn't any strong reason, it was better to avoid the idiots. Idiots like the one who killed Thor's father, they both thought, and did not say. 

"Cool, I'll tell him." 

So it was that Friday evening found the four of them walking downtown for dinner together, lightning bugs dancing around them and mosquitoes diving at their exposed skin. 

"So, how long before you get that grad student look?" Loki asked Steve. 

"Hey!" Bucky said. 

"Come on, you know what I mean. Every TA has it and you _just_ lost it. That constant sort of existential horror look." 

"Oh, that. Yeah. I thought you meant wrinkles." 

"Steve won't get wrinkles. He'll be young and perfect forever," Thor teased. 

"I know," Bucky said, giving Steve a fond glance. 

Thor discreetly elbowed Loki when he started making gagging noises. He was walking on Thor's far side from the others, and Thor was at least vaguely hopeful they didn't hear. 

Talk over dinner turned to the cross-country move. 

"Are you getting a truck?" Loki asked between bites of lo mein. 

They nodded. "Buck's got his apartment until July first, so after graduation we're going to fly out and look for a place out there. Then we'll know how much we have to get rid of," Steve said. 

"And I have a job starting the second week of July, so we have to settle in fast. Or Steve can do all the unpacking while I'm off earning our keep," added Bucky. 

"You did? Wow, that's amazing. Congratulations," Thor said. 

Bucky smiled. "Thanks. Yeah, I went over spring break for an interview. I'll be doing art therapy in a program that's just starting up, working with children in the foster system." 

Steve beamed past his stuffed mouth. 

"That's really nice of you," Loki said. 

"I'm lucky to find something so quickly. I like looking out for people. I always have. Getting to use art and help people at the same time is the best." 

"Still, it's nice." 

Thor rubbed Loki's knee under the table. He didn't know the details of Loki's adoption, whether it had been arranged before he was born. He wasn't sure if Loki knew, either. He was sure, though, that Loki was thinking about how easily that could have been him. Someone who really cared, like Bucky, could make a huge difference in a lot of kids' lives. 

"I was thinking about being a big brother in the program, too. I don't know if they'd like me, though," Steve said. 

"They'd like you," Loki said. 

It was hard to say goodbye when they got back to campus, even knowing that Longmoor was on a different break schedule than Lake State, so they'd be around when Steve and Bucky came home to visit. 

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Steve said, hugging them. 

"I won't," Thor promised. 

Loki smiled sweetly, not answering. "Good luck with the move," he said. 

And then they turned, and parted. Thor and Loki, at least, had only a few hours left to finish packing and preparing their room for the summer, and they did want some sleep before the drive. 

They climbed the stairs a little more slowly than usual. 

"You should bring your football jacket," Loki said, glancing into Thor's closet as they got back into the room. 

"Nah, even when it gets cool at night that thing is still too hot." 

Loki shrugged. "Fine, but I'm not blowing you under the bleachers without it." 

Thor grabbed it and draped it over his duffel bag. 

It took two more hours -less than they'd expected - to feel like they were close enough to done to feel ready to go to bed. 

In the morning, Loki sat in his desk chair for a moment, looking around in satisfaction. They'd loaded the car with everything except the bags that waited by the door. The room was even reasonably tidy, ready to welcome them back in the fall. That was Thor's doing. 

Thor perched himself on the edge of Loki's desk, facing him. He still didn't know exactly how he wanted to say this, but it felt like something that needed to be done before they left for summer. It was a part of this year, and they were about the close that door and open another. 

"Loki, I-" he broke off, frowning. He found it so much easier to show his feelings than to put them into words, but words were what Loki needed. He deserved to hear this, even if it wasn't as eloquent as Thor would like. 

"Yes?" Loki asked, looking up at him. 

Thor sighed. "I've been dealing with a lot this year, and I know that wasn't always easy for you. I just want you to know how much it means that you stuck with me." 

Loki nodded, his smile just a little sad. "It wasn't. But - never doubt that I love you, Thor." 

"You either." Thor put his hand against Loki's cheek. "Never doubt that I love you, too. Okay?" 

That got him another smile, one with no sadness in it at all. "Okay." _I'll try. I really will try my very best,_ he promised silently. 

"Ready to go?" Loki nodded and stood, following Thor into the hall. He pulled the door shut behind himself. Thor had his key ready and locked it. They walked down to the car, Thor carrying one of Loki's bags. They had a big summer ahead of them: their parents' wedding, Thor's internship, Loki's second round of teaching, the house to themselves for a whole month... they got in and Loki turned the ignition. 

Four hours to Beuley. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and for all the kind comments! I hope you continue to enjoy the story as the new family is formed.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Dancer's Grace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3482804) by [JaneDoe876](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneDoe876/pseuds/JaneDoe876)




End file.
